Daily 12 March/März - ITB Berlin

ITB Berlin English Daily 2010 Friday 12 March XXI
Ethiopia gets World Bank loan for sustainable tourism
Ethiopia has become the first African country to secure a World Bank loan for sustainable
tourism development. The bank has approved a US$35 million loan for reconstructing
and improving basic infrastructure in key historic sites, such as the rock-hewn
churches at Lalibela, the obelisks and ancient city at Axum and the sites of Addis Ababa.
The loan will also help improve visitor services and develop tourism products including
new tourist routes in southern and western Ethiopia. Currently some 300,000 international
visitors come to Ethiopia each year, but the government plans to substantially
expand the tourism sector, aiming to get the country into Africa’s top ten tourism destinations
by 2020.
A challenging 2009, but Mauritius is optimistic about 2010
The small country of Mauritius – one of the world’s destinations most dependent on
tourism – had a difficult 2009. It experienced a 6.4% decline in visitor arrivals last year,
recording 871,000 international visitors compared with 930,000 in 2008. According to
data from WTTC, travel and tourism in Mauritius contributed 25.4% of GDP
(US$2,542.3 million) in 2009 and could provide as much as 27.5% of GDP (US$5,379.2
million) by 2019.
Meanwhile, the Mauritian Government remains optimistic about 2010. The Central
Statistics Office (CSO) expects visitor arrivals to increase by 5% to 915,000, while revenue
should rise by 13% to US$1.07 billion. The Tourism Minister for Mauritius, Xavier-
Luc Duval, is even more optimistic: in February he said that Mauritius should attract one
million tourists this year.
“The 2010 target of a million tourists is a defying challenge for us. Our government has
already launched an important programme for new infrastructure, including investment
in a cruise port terminal and in expanding the international airport.”
Around US$300 million will be invested in modernising and expanding the SSR International
Airport, and its capacity will almost double to 4 million (total passenger traffic
in 2009 was 2.5 million). Designed by Aéroports de Paris International (ADPI), with an
architectural concept inspired by the local Ravenala palm, the new 57,000-square metre
terminal should open in 2012. Travellers will then walk under the ‘palms’ to reach the
boarding gates which will offer panoramic views of the Mauritian mountains and the
Blue Bay lagoon.
Tunisia invests in health tourism
The Ministry of Health has released new data showing the growing popularity of health
tourism in Tunisia. Some 250,000 foreign patients visited the country’s hospitals in
2009, according to the Ministry. Around 70% of them came from other countries in
North Africa, especially Libya, while the second largest source market was sub-Saharan
Africa (12%), especially Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali and Burundi. The remaining 18%
came from Western Europe. The majority of foreign patients were women having plastic
surgery, according to the Ministry’s data, and they were attracted to Tunisia by its com-