Launched on May 16, in San Pedro, in the south-west, the ''Caravane Sublime Côte d'Ivoire'' crossed Grand-Béréby, then Taï, before ending on May 19, in San Pedro, by a review conference by the Minister of Tourism and Leisure, Siandou Fofana, at the Hotel Sophia. Through this caravan, it was for the first person in charge of Tourism and Leisure of Côte d'Ivoire to go to the discovery of the tourist potential of the south-west and to exchange with the actors of the sector, with a view to better understand their concerns and above all present "Sublime Côte d'Ivoire", the national strategy for the development of the sector by 2025.

For the south-west stage, it was a question of describing ''The route of the Elephants'' and ''Paradise between sea and nature''. Two circuits that allowed the Minister to closely touch the realities on the ground, in order to better appreciate the mechanisms of the final implementation of these circuits which extend from San Pedro to the Taï National Park where seaside tourism and ecotourism coexist harmoniously , in a luxuriant nature. “This region has a vocation for tourism and natural leisure, given its seaside and geostrategic location and, beyond that, its culture and traditions as well as the biodiversity it offers.

As part of the promotion of our tourist assets, we could not help launching the Sublime Côte d'Ivoire Caravan in San Pedro, the capital of this region," said Siandou Fofana who, throughout along this tour, took the full measure of the potential of the south-west region, in particular a magical seaside location which shows that Côte d'Ivoire has a lot to offer to all tourists.

“We started well because the potential is there. This is why this region will benefit from major road infrastructure projects under the National Development Program 2016-2020. Already, we can tell you that the rehabilitation of the coast will be done before the end of the year, then the dynamic will continue as part of the implementation of the projects of the African Cup of Nations 2023 (Can 2023)”, reassured Siandou Fofana.

In the overall budget of 3200 billion FCfa, 480 billion will be used to transform the face of San Pedro. The concerns of industry players have not fallen on deaf ears. The Minister has made himself their spokesperson with the Prime Minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, in order to analyze all the difficulties, with a view to providing concrete solutions. Parataxation, the high cost of plane tickets, port occupation fees, support for investment are, among others, the concerns that the minister has promised to submit to the interministerial committee. “We have taken full measure of your concerns. We have a duty to support you in a dynamic of actions.

We will include your concerns in the overall implementation of Sublime Côte d'Ivoire,” said Siandou Fofana. Before concluding: “We arrived, we saw and we leave convinced that the south-west region can be sold to the whole world. The intelligent exploitation of this great potential will truly sublimate the touristic Côte d'Ivoire”.

The Minister of Tourism and Leisure was accompanied in this mission by members of his cabinet, a team from the ministry and a dozen press organs (national and international).