US, Europe tourism experts storm Burkina Faso
Vanguard, Nigeria
OBINWA BEN NNAJI, just back from Ouagadougou
Posted to the Web: Sunday, September 24, 2006
BURKINA Faso plans to explore the possibility of using
handicraft to promote tourism and development during the forthcoming International Conference of Craft and Art (SIAO) taking place in Ouagadougou in October.
That country’s minister of culture, arts and tourism, Mrs. Aline Koala, said that an international symposium titled “Handicraft and Tourism as factor for developmentâ€, would be one of the major highlights of this year’s edition of SIAO.
Speakers and experts from the United States, Europe and World Tourism Organisation (WTO), including local authorities on this subject, would brainstorm and adapt their findings towards African case.
SIAO is bringing together artisans and handicraft makers from all over the Africa and Africans in diaspora to exhibit their wares. In concert with the need to promote African arts and handicraft, the Burkina Faso government erected, few years ago, a permanent ultra modern edifice housing both the artisans and conference centres for SIAO summits.
The SIAO building continues to be a major tourist attraction as artisans have been allotted spaces in the Artisan Village where they continue to chisel out their various works of arts, metals and other manufacturing art of ceramics. SIAO, which holds once every two years, has been one great source of promoting craft and art work on the African continent.
Running from October 27 to November 5, this year’s edition, according to the minister, would be marked with pomp in order to emphasise the special gift endowed by God on artisans, who, she said were able to mould and carve out spectacular works of art from basically nothing.
Outlining the activities of the ministry, Mrs. Koala said there are lots of programmes lined up such as a book forum which takes place also in October.
There was Culture Week this September and in November, the third edition of the International Conference of Tourism and Hoteliers of Ouagadougou (SITHO 2006) would hold.
Travel agents and hoteliers from all over Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Belgium, France, Niger including tourist organisations in Africa, Europe and America would attend the November conference.