Luanda: Angolan Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) and Standard Bank Angola (SBA) signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday, in Luanda, focused on facilitation of payments and promotion of domestic tourism consumption.
According to Angola Press News Agency, the agreement establishes the creation of financing solutions for investment, assets and equipment, strengthening working capital adjusted to the reality of operators, support for the modernization and expansion of experiences, accommodation and services. It also includes the facilitation of simple and secure digital payment methods, acceptance of cards and integration into operators' channels, and more structured settlement and formalization of transactions.
The instrument provides for installment payments for tourism products and services, joint incentive campaigns, commercial benefits and encouragement of first-time purchases. The document was signed by the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Standard Bank Angola, Lus Teles, and the Director-General of the Institute for Tourism Development (INFOTUR), Allcia Santos, and witnessed by the Minister of Tourism, M¡rcio Daniel, and the Vice-Governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Domingos Pedro.
The initiative is part of the Executive's vision of positioning tourism as a strategic sector for national economic diversification, promoting greater financial integration of the activity, economic inclusion, and boosting the real economy. On the occasion, the Minister of Tourism, M¡rcio Daniel, stated that the memorandum now signed represents a turning point to overcome the lethargy in the sector and enter a phase of greater structuring and less seasonality of demand.
"We are creating conditions for continuous, predictable, more organized and economically sustainable tourism," he stressed. It is in this context, he added, that the "Travel now and pay later" solution is born, a measure aimed at democratizing access to tourism. He stated that this new dynamic requires responsibility, professionalism, formalization, and organization from tourism operators, arguing that a strong sector cannot be built in informality or in the absence of minimum quality standards.
In turn, the president of the Executive Committee of Standard Bank Angola, Lus Teles, stated that banking should be an engine of growth, and therefore the institution he leads is focused on supporting value creation, stimulating investment, and accelerating opportunities in the sector. He clarified that the agreement constitutes a joint platform for identifying opportunities, supporting entrepreneurship, mobilizing capital, and developing financial solutions that can give investors more confidence, operators more capacity, and communities more access.