Interview: with Angola’s Minister of Tourism, H.E. Márcio de Jesus Lopes Daniel

Derya Soysal: Firstly, thank you very much for this forum, but what is the next step of this Investment Summit organized with the Global Tourism Group Forum?

Angola’s Minister of Tourism, H.E. Márcio de Jesus Lopes Daniel: I think that there is a starting point that happens before the Investment Summit, which is, according to the diagnosis that we have done, Angola would be considered as a very unknown destination in the world of tourism. So the first step that we have done is to create the proper awareness inside the universe of tourism and the tourism businessmen and businesswomen that there is a new destination growing, which is Angola.

Derya Soysal: What is the plan of the Angolan government to work with the neighbouring countries to develop the tourism cooperation?

Márcio de Jesus Lopes Daniel: Co-branding and co-tours to prepare. Co-branding because there is a good example that we have done so far, for example in the Cavango Zambeza Transfrontier Conservation Area, it is the same landscape that belongs to five different countries, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Angola. So we jointly created a single tourist brand to advertise all the countries.

Derya Soysal: What are the main priorities of the Ministry of Tourism to attract more and more European tourists?

Márcio de Jesus Lopes Daniel: Most of the tourists that we receive are based on the business tourism, because we have a very strong oil industry, diamond extraction sector, but from 2024 to 2025, the profile of the tourists has changed in terms of leisure tourists. That has been increased 25% from 2024 to 2025.And this is directly related to the promotion that we have done so far.