Togo Calls on Municipalities to Catalogue Heritage Sites as Part of Tourism Push

Economic governance

Monday, 01 December 2025 11:56

Togo Calls on Municipalities to Catalogue Heritage Sites as Part of Tourism Push

(Togo First) - Togo has launched a new effort to promote its cultural and tourism sites through its local municipalities. A training session for municipal officials on how to better develop and promote these sites was held in Lomé last week.

The initiative is part of a national place-branding strategy aimed at preserving Togolese musical heritage through municipal programs, encouraging the creation of sports centers in each municipality and strengthening the local culture and tourism sector. Municipalities are being encouraged to integrate tourism more systematically into their development plans.

Ahead of the preparation of a national strategy to promote cultural and tourism assets, Culture Minister Isaac Tchiakpé has asked all municipalities to compile an inventory of their heritage sites.

The initiative comes as Togo pursues a range of programs to boost its tourism sector. The government is working to expand business tourism, including through a digital hotel booking platform for major events. Work is also underway to restore several key sites, such as the historic Kamina site near Atakpamé and the Koutammakou cultural landscape. Official data indicates that tourism contributes about 8 percent of national GDP.

Esaïe Edoh

REFORMS OVERVIEW

STARTING A BUSINESS (more info)

At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms….

ENFORCING CONTRACTS (more info)

Compared to some years ago when it was one of the lowest rankers under the Doing Business’ Enforcing Contracts indicator, Togo, leveraging many efforts to improve its business climate, was able to jump significantly on the index in the recent years... .

CONTRACT EXECUTION (more info)

Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

TRADING ACROSS BORDERS (more info)

In comparison to previous years,Togo has significantly improved its ranking under the“Trading across borders” indicator by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the “Trading across borders” index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

CONSTRUCTION PERMIT (more info)

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REGISTERING A PROPERTY (more info)

Out of all the 'Doing Business’ indicators, Property Registration is where Togo has improved the most since 2018. Indeed, after spending years in the lowest part of this ranking, the country now seeks to beat Rwanda which is the best performer on this index in Africa. To do so, Lomé has been introducing many reforms, with the latest batch implemented this year.

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (more info)

From professionalization to digitization, through legislative regulations, Togo’s public procurement framework is constantly being modernized. Several reforms have been implemented to improve the sector much to the benefit of the private sector, which is the focus of the National Development Plan.

PAYING TAXES AND DUTIES (more info)

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