Gabon: Going upscale

International airlines bring new dynamism to travel and tourism

Two prestigious international airlines brought new vitality to travel and tourism with the introduction of increased flight schedules. This resulted in improved performance for the Gabonese travel and tourism market. Most notably, in 2013, Turkish Airlines, which offers flights to a wide range of nations across the world, added the 97th country to its network by offering flights to Libreville, the capital of Gabon, and its major city. Flights were available each three days between the Turkish capital of Istanbul and Libreville. Air France followed the same strategy by providing daily flights between Libreville and Charles de Gaulle, Paris.

Ecotourism: the new trend in Gabon

Located on the west coast of central Africa, Gabon may not be known for being home to the best road infrastructure and accommodation in the world, although undoubtedly it is home to a huge range of attractions that draw people from across the globe. With its huge range of environmental bio-diversity, tourists travel from far and wide to experience the country’s remarkable wildlife, landscape and scenery, stunning beaches, dynamic cities and favourable weather. These factors and a lot of additional boosted tourism in Gabon, allowing visitors to interact with nature, and practise extreme sports and adventure.

Gabonese government to invest over US$85 million in tourist development

The National Infrastructure Master Plan 2011 to 2016 is worth over US$11 billion and comprises of 21 major projects. Its aim is to develop a new infrastructure to support the socio-economic increase of Gabon. This includes new roads, railways, ports and other transport infrastructure. Under the Gabonese Master Plan, over US$85 million will be channelled into the development of tourism, and the exciting shift in dynamics created by this public initiative continued to improve the performance of the Gabonese travel and tourism market.

Raw materials attract business travellers

Gabon is home to an exceptionally diverse and accessible range of natural resources, inclunding petroleum, iron, diamond, gold, timber and uranium. With such diversity comes considerable opportunity for investment from across the world, inclunding the exploration of these natural resources. The vast, un-tapped potential of Gabon and its natural resources contributed massively to the number of new visitors to the country, offering lucrative investment opportunities available to savvy international businesses.

Crime: problematic in some areas

While a positive performance was observed in Gabonese travel and tourism, security and the threat of crime remained a major threat to its continuing development. Even in major cities, such as Libreville, the police force was stretched and under-equipped. Tourists were advised to remain in cities, rather than venture out alone, meaning that a lot of were restricted in terms of their travel experience, potentially missing out on exploring the wider countryside, its scenery and culture. This issue limited the potential increase of tourism in Gabon.

In line with the government’s strategy of boosting tourism revenues and capitalising on the country’s biodiversity, Gabon has recently held negotiations with a pair of high-end ecotourism developers to increase the amount of accommodation on offer in the country’s additional remote and pristine areas.

The national has increasingly sought to transform the relatively modest flow of visitors into a additional sustainable contributor to economic diversification. In mid-March President Ali Bongo Ondimba met with Adrian Zecha, the chairman of Amanresorts International, in Libreville to discuss the options for developing Gabon’s upscale tourism offering. The Singapore-based company, which was founded in 1988, manages 24 luxury resorts worldwide.

Gabon’s National Agency for National Parks (Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, ANPN) presented a number of potential development sites around the country during the conference , although the hotel group already has its plans set for its first resort on Le Phare de Gombe beach, 20 km from Libreville. The project will consist of 20 luxury villas and is set to open in January 2012. Another Amanresort projects are planned at Kangou Water Falls, 80 km east of Libreville, and Hippo Beach in Loango National Park.

Amanresorts is not the only firm looking to establish a larger profile in Gabon’s high-end and niche tourism sectors. Sustainable Forestry Management Africa, a Mauritius-based land management and timber company, is currently negotiating with the Gabonese government to launch a series of ecotourism resorts in national parks across the country as part of a joint timber harvest and tourism investment to upgrade tourism infrastructure and as well allow for additional sustainable management of resources through controls on illegal deforestation and reduced-impact logging.

According to local news sources, the planned investment, which would potentially reach CFA50bn (€76m), would be half handled in cooperation with the ANPN as part of a broader initiative to bring luxury lodgings to Gabon’s additional far-flung national parks.

There are a number of opportunities for further expansion in Gabon’s ecotourism sector, particularly given the large swathes of the country that are currently protected from real estate development or extractive industries. In a speech given in March, President Ondimba stated that “conserving our natural environment while not limiting economic opportunities for our people is our challenge.”

Certainly the sheer amount of land, combined with Gabon’s relatively small and concentrated people of 1.5m, provides something of a blank slate for determined foreign investors. Some 80% of Gabon is covered by equatorial rainforest, of which 11% is designated as national parkland.

A key element of the government’s drive to increase visitor numbers and improve revenues from niche tourism sectors is the ANPN itself, which was established in 2007 to promote ecotourism and boost related visitor numbers from 2000 to 3000 per year to 100,000 pear year by 2020. Currently, business visitors to the country’s urban centres of Libreville, Port-Gentil and Franceville generate the majority revenue.

The ANPN, in cooperation with environmental non-governmental organisations the Wildlife Conservation Society and Muyissi Environnement, has recently launched an awareness campaign on the importance of protecting the national parks in the southern province of Ngounié. The ANPN has before participated in high-end projects such as Africa’s Eden Lodge in Loango Park, a €15m investment, despite its recent closure due to a disagreement with Gabonese authorities.

Furthermore, in February the government received a €7m grant from World Environment Facility, an international financing instrument, to improve fiscal management of the country’s 13 national parks, which cover 15% of Gabon’s equatorial forest. The donation will go toward setting up a website to increase the profile of the country’s national parks and promote related tourism.

The increasing emphasis on ecotourism is part of Gabon’s desire to boost in general visitor numbers and increase the contribution of tourism to GDP, which has been at a relatively low 3% average in recent years. The national aims to boost this figure to 10% of GDP by 2013. Capitalising on niche tourism, particularly high-end ecotourism, will be challenging at a time when major tourist markets are still climbing out of the world recession, but if Gabon is able to increase its supply of related offerings it will be well placed to profit from the expected increase in visitor numbers.

Gabon: Tapping into tourism