كيف يمكن لتطوير السياحة تعزيز فرص العمل للشباب وحماية تاريخ السودان الغني:دانماركي يعيش في السودان

How tourism development can boost youth unemployment and protect Sudan's rich history

Sudan’s history and heritage are some of the most fascinating and priceless in the world but due to a lack of preservation and neglect much of its heritage is falling apart and needs urgent attention. There may lie a potential solution in the tourism sector and with youth employment. Thousands of students are admitted to university every year with no job available in the labor market to accommodate them, which prolongs the unemployment every year.
It's obvious that both these issues need tailored policy and new thinking to solve them. 
Sudan has an enormous potential to offer the tourism market, and I can say in confidence that the diversity of activities and the natural beauty is a unique and impressive combination. For example, mountaineers are always looking for new and exciting locations and the East and West Jebel Mara mountain ranges can offer this. Personally, I have seen the beauty of Derbait, Swaini and Fakri Sulieman at heights of around 3200 meters above sea level, ever green and with plenty of waterfalls. I have also seen the mountains of Arkwait, at around 11000 feet, which has a colder climate that avid bird watchers would enjoy. The Nile along with the stretch of over 800km of Red sea can be used for sailing competitions, kite surfing, deep-sea fishing and diving with the Red Sea being one of the world’s most popular locations for dive holidays. All these activities and more can contribute to billions of hard currency in government revenue, create jobs and put Sudan at the forefront of tourism globally. 

Sudan has an untapped revenue of billions of hard currency that can create jobs and uplift many from poverty. However, to realize this revenue, the tourist sector needs an overhaul and reforms. The Covid-19 pandemic brought great economic hardships and caused many people to lose their livelihoods. Tourism will begin to open up after vaccine uptake globally however no matter whether a country was bustling with tourism before the pandemic or not, every country will essentially be starting from the bottom unless they have the tourism infrastructures and sound policy in place. 

Western archeologists are not enough to preserve the antiquities and sites or to discover what else lies out there. The owners of this are the Sudanese people and this kind of job needs passion and patience, which can bring great rewards when preserved for tourists internationally and in the region but most importantly for the country. This gives great opportunity for the private sector along with academics and archaeologists to support this process, which can also prove favorable for them in the long run.

If Sudan wants to become a tourism hub, the heritage sites that have been vandalized by graffiti or are falling apart need to be restored and protected. I believe that the vandalism occurs because the communities living around the pyramids do not feel that this is anything important and second due to a lack of knowledge in the historical significance only see this as Asma Haram. The Ministry of Tourism (Tourism doesn’t reflect the new cabinet), Antiquities and Wildlife with the Ministry of Education can address this by educating people on the importance of history and civilization, but furthermore to include the history of civilization before the Islamic period in school curricula and arranging visits for schools. Preservation of national treasures is everyone’s responsibility, and the communities must be a part of these processes and that will create the community ownership, preservation and protection. 

The Sudanese youth are intelligent, articulate and creative but like we are seeing in many parts of the world if their energies and abilities are not harnessed towards something positive it is easy for them to be taken advantage of. I am sure that if young people were given space and responsibility within tourism development they could go far. There is even possibility in their creative abilities being used as a way to foster diplomacy and communication for embassies as Africa signed free trade and investment trade. However, this is on the precondition that there are some education reforms within secondary education, that students are given options that include shorter technical/vocational courses that can meet the needs of the job market and help them avoid the university to job bottleneck. If the tourist sector takes off, the hospitality sector will need many staff with a good command of languages, hotel workers, plumbers, air condition technicians, tour guides, activity instructors, just to name a few.

All in all, I believe that a high-level stakeholder conference to discuss the current situation of the tourism should be convened, followed by a white paper outlining the level of collaboration between different ministries, the private sector, academia, Wali and localities. The potential for Sudan to transform into a tourism hub is too great to not pay attention to. As Sudan is moving forward, I believe that the youth can help restore much of the pride of the heritage of this land just as they were able to channel their creativity and their internet know-how to organize themselves for a revolution. Their creativity along with the many intellectual elders that understand the history and country can help rebrand Sudan as a tourist destination.
 
Musse Id
Danish Citizen living in Sudan