Yaounde, Cameroon Africa. (Cameroon News) – Cameroon Tourism – Cameroon is gradually becoming a tourists destination in the Central African Sub-region, as it received a total of 604,052 foreign tourists in 2011, registering an increase from 572,728 in 2010.

The World Tourism Organisation recently gave confirmed Cameroon as a touristic destination.

The country targets more than one million tourists in 2020, the Minister of State for Tourism and Leisure, Bello Bouba Maigari said in the capital city, Yaounde on January 4, 2012 during the eighth session of the National Tourism Board.

Cameroon Tourism - Cameroon Africa set to become a major touristic destination of the world

Prime Minister Philemon Yang while chairing the National Tourism Board meeting reiterated government’s determination to put a new impetus in the tourism sector for it to effectively contribute in making Cameroon an emerging economy by 2035.

Mr Yang instructed all ministries involved in the promotion and development of tourism to prepare and submit to him quarterly reports on the progress of the sector and also translate recommendations into concrete projects.

Statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure show that government in 2011 authorised the

• construction of 53 hotels with a capacity of 1,005 rooms, offering 1,060 jobs;
• the opening of 29 hotels with a capacity of 587 rooms;
• 27 restaurants and 15 recreational grounds with a capacity of 1,720 places and generating 150 direct jobs.

The Minister of State for Tourism and Leisure said in government also authorised the opening of six tourism agencies and 10 tourism guides. The total investment injected by the private sector into the hotel and tourism sector stands at over FCFA 25.9 billion, creating 2,370 jobs, Bello Bouba Maigari said.