Tourism

As an ancient pearl fishing centre, Qatar was once part of an historic trade network stretching across the Indian Ocean and connecting the merchants of Arabia and East Africa to their counterparts in South Asia. Ships navigated with seasonal winds and built an expansive economic-cultural sphere, helping establish the region’s tradition of trade,...

With energy windfalls fuelling large-scale development in virtually every area of the economy, Qatar has attracted – and continues to bring in – flocks of business visitors from around the world. Although business tourism is still a major breadwinner for the overall industry, the state is not placing all its eggs in one basket. Indeed, the tourism...

It may not rank high among the world’s recommended travel destinations, but tourism in Nigeria is among the few sectors with significant potential to support efforts to diversify away from oil in a sustainable and inclusive manner. Though largely guided by business travellers, the sector could also benefit from the nation’s rich cultural...

Despite Gabon’s vaunted initiative to stimulate growth in tourism, the sector still suffers from some restrictive bottlenecks, and nowhere is that more evident than the issue of room capacity.

The year 2012 has been a memorable one for Gabon so far, co-hosting with Equatorial Guinea football’s African Cup of Nations (Coupe d’Afrique des Nations, CAN), one the world’s most important sporting events, for the first time in its history.

In a bid to diversify its largely oil-dependent economy, developing tourism has become a top priority under Green Gabon, a central pillar of the Emerging Gabon programme, targeting economic growth through, among other things, forestry, agriculture, fisheries and conservation. Although tourism is still a minor contributor, it has sizeable potential...