BY LOU SIFA

(With Omer Bilé)

After the drastic downturn resulting from the decade-long political crisis from the 2002 armed rebellion that split Cote d’Ivoire into two, to the post-election crisis of 2010-2011 that climaxed into a civil war, the Ivorian tourism sector has rebounded significantly over the past several years. According to the official data, the sector’s contribution to GDP rose from 0.6% in 2012 to 4.8% in 2015. The West African nation is gearing up to make tourism a major pillar of its economy with the objective of creating 700,000 jobs in the sector by 2025.

One of several engines of this growth is the Tourism Development Fund, FDT, headed by Marcel Kouadio N’guettia, who presides over a steering committee. The FDT, founded in 2007, is responsible for providing support for projects financing, investments, development and training.

This crucial entity in Cote d’Ivoire’s tourism industry has been credited with impressive achievements, including the following:

• Organization of the recurring Abidjan International Tourism Fair that brings together key actors in the industry
• Rehabilitation of hotels in the center-north region after the political crisis
• Feasibility study for river and lagoon tourism
• Support for the feasibility study for the construction of the Exhibition Park of Abidjan
• Organization of the seminar on the tourism development tax in Grand-Bassam on September 14-16, 2016
• Support for the construction of the tourism villages “Les Relais Paillotes”
• Construction of the center for the potters of Tanou Sakassou, near Bouaké, the country’s second largest city
• Construction of the carvers center of Kôkô (Korhogo)
• Pre-study for the opening of an animal park and an amusement park in Dahlia Fleurs (in the Abidjan-Bingerville area)

SUBLIME COTE D’IVOIRE

Cote d’Ivoire recently devised a new strategy to promote its tourism sector. Labeled “Sublime Cote d’Ivoire,” the new, ambitious five-year plan aims to help the West African French-speaking nation rise from its current standing as the 12th tourist destination on the continent to the fifth by 2025. The plan rests on nine flagship projects: lowering the cost of flying to the country, improving infrastructure, real estate development, security, training, financing and enhancing the tourism department’s capabilities. The cost is estimated at $5.48 bn, of which the country plans to raise over half from the private sector. Besides the creation of 700,000 jobs by 2025, Sublime Cote d’Ivoire aims to hike the tourist sector’s contribution to GDP to 12%.

GETTING TOURISM OPERATORS ONBOARD

No doubt, all the actors in the tourism sector need to familiarize themselves with the novel strategy that is Sublime Cote d’Ivoire, in order for the game-changing plan to work. Therefore, soon after the launch of the plan, President Marcel Kouadio N’guettia’s Tourism Development Fund organized in early May 2019 a training session for operators in the sector.

Germain N’dri Aphing Kouassi, Tourism Minister Siandou Fofana’s chief of staff, used the occasion to stress the need for a “durable and sustained tourism activity,” then pointed out the ‘paramount’ need for such training, noting that “for operators to be competent and qualified, they need to be trained.”

President N’guetta, for his part, pointed out Cote d’Ivoire’s tourism’s dependence on tourists from the sub-region, adding that “domestic tourism has to be strengthened to be able to capitalize on that.”

A MONKEY OBSERVATION SITE INAUGURATED

On October 15, 2019, in-line with one of the nine flagship project of Sublime Cote d’Ivoire, N’guettia inaugurated an observation site for sacred monkeys in Gbétitapia, a village near Daloa, in the west. The courtyard is part of a building comprising a restaurant.

Addressing the local officials on the occasion, N’guetta said:

“This project is intended to create jobs in the Ivorian tourism sector. The goal is meant to create jobs for the youth in Gbétitapia. As of now, this observation site has created six jobs, with the long-term possibility of creating 25 to 30 more.”

The head of the Ivorian Tourism Development Fund mentioned other projects to be financed by his agency for the purpose of tourism promotion in the area.

STRENGTHENING SECURITY

Tourism development rhymes with enhanced security, as the Ivorian authorities are fully aware. So, to no one’s surprise, President N’Guettia last September gave out security kits to hotels, including metal detectors, to restaurants and bars in the N’Zi region, in the country’s south-central region.

Clearly, Ivorian authorities are leaving nothing to chance in their resolve to take their tourism sector to a new level.