On May 26, Nairobi visitors enjoyed the city’s first historical walking tours. Two-hour trips now pass by the 1950s parliament buildings, Khoja Mosque and a bronze statue of Kenya’s founding president, Jomo Kenyatta.

Sharon Kyungu, spokesperson for the National Museums of Kenya, said the tours “offer visitors something more than just beaches and wildlife” and will help it compete with Africa’s destination cities, such as Cairo and Cape Town.

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The sun sets on the small Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Matthias Ott / Flickr

Mauritius’s central bank unexpectedly cut its key interest rate to a record low and reduced its growth forecast, saying it will remain vigilant in helping support the economy.

The Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Rundheersing Bheenick, lowered its key rate to 4.65 percent from 4.9 percent in a majority decision, according to a statement published on the Port Louis-based institution’s website today. Three out of five economists and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicted the rate would remain on hold, while two forecast a 10 basis-point increase.

“The global economy is still slow,” Ahmed Parkar, director of the Joint Economic Council, which represents businesses in Mauritius, said by phone before the announcement was made. “Our main economic pillars are affected, particularly the tourism sector. We must therefore seek growth.”

The bank reduced its 2013 economic growth forecast to a range of 3.2 percent to 3.7 percent from 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent estimated at the previous meeting, according to the statement. The economy expanded 3.3 percent last year, according to government data.

“The MPC discussed alternative interest rate scenarios and was divided on the risks to the growth and inflation outlook,” according to the statement. “The MPC maintains strong vigilance in monitoring economic and financial developments.” Policy makers will convene between regular meetings if the need arises, the bank said.

Inflation is forecast to accelerate between 5.3 percent to 5.8 percent by the end of December, compared with 3.7 percent last month, as salary demands increase, the bank said.

“Upside risks to the inflation outlook arising mainly from the public-sector wage award and possible spillovers to private- sector wages remain significant,” the bank said.

Weakness in Europe, the market for about two-thirds of Mauritian exports and half of tourist arrivals, has affected the economic outlook while inflation is “under control,” Finance Minister Xavier Luc Duval said in April. The Indian Ocean island nation in May cut its 2013 forecast for visitor arrivals to 990,000 from 1 million.

With assistance from Sarah McGregor in Nairobi and Kamlesh Bhuckory in Johannesburg. Editors: Sarah McGregor, Emily Bowers, Paul Richardson.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christina Vilbrin in Johannesburg at cvilbrin@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net.

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Tourists at Luxor site in Egypt. / Associated Press

Egyptian tourism workers and residents of the ancient city of Luxor voiced their anger Monday after an Islamist linked to a former Islamic militant group that carried out the city’s deadliest terrorist attack, killing nearly 60 tourists in the 1990s, was appointed governor of their province.

Workers, opposition politicians and activists in the southern city Luxor said they plan to seal off the office of the governor to prevent Adel el-Khayat from entering. Tourism is the lifeblood of Luxor, home to some of Egypt’s most dramatic ancient temples and pharaonic tombs, including that of King Tutankhamun. The city has been hit hard by the downtown in foreign visitors amid the past two years of turmoil.

Members of the tourism industry worried over the impact of the new governor on tourism — both because of his ties to the former militant Gamaa Islamiya and because of the prospect of a hard-line Islamist running the city and surrounding province.

“Is it unimaginable that those who plotted, participated or played any role in the massacre of Luxor, become the rulers even if they renounced and repented it,” said Tharwat Agamy, the head of Luxor’s Tourism Chamber.

He said that he along with others in tourism industry, politicians and activists are holding meetings now. They are considering sealing the doors of the governor’s building with chains and locks and sending him back to airport.

El-Khayat belongs to the Construction and Development party, the political arm of Gamaa Islamiya, which waged a bloody armed insurgency against the state in starting 1992, attacking police, Copts and tourists. In 1997, gunmen from the group attacked tourists visiting Luxor’s more than 3,400-year-old Hatshepsut Temple, spraying them with gunfire and stabbing them and killing 58.

More than 1,200 people died in the campaign of violence by the group and another militant group, Islamic Jihad.

Both the Gamaa and Islamic Jihad renounced violence in the 2000s, amid a crackdown by the regime of then-President Hosni Mubarak. Since Mubarak’s fall in early 2011, both have launched political parties, and the Gamaa’s is allied to Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Agamy denounced el-Khayat’s appointment by Morsi on Sunday as political, saying it aimed to solidify the president’s support among Islamist hard-liners ahead of protests planned by the liberal opposition and youth activists for the end of the month calling for his ouster. The Gamaa’s party has threatened to counter the opposition protests with an “Islamic revolution.”

“Morsi needs the group to act as the military wing of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Agamy said.

Appointed Sunday among 17 other new governors, el-Khayat said that he would not be influenced by his political affiliation.

“I am honored to belong to the Islamist current, but now as a governor I am in the service of the nation,” he said in comments emailed to Associated Press by the media person of the group. “It is not fair to judge someone just because of affiliation but by evaluating their wok, performance and skills.”

He said that the Gamaa suffered under Mubarak’s regime, claiming that the group didn’t order the Hatshepsut attack, was not aware of it and condemned it afterward.

However, the group claimed responsibility for the attack at the time and two years later, one of the top group’s leaders Rifai Ahmed Taha warned the government that the Luxor massacre could be repeated if Egypt does not change its hostile policy against the Islamic movement. Taha, a veteran of jihad in Afghanistan believed to have been close to al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, is now living freely in Egypt.

One of the founders of Gamaa Islamiya Nageh, Ibrahim said that el-Khayat has split from the group when it divered to militancy and that for 30 years he devoted his life to work as an engineer in a government agency in the ministry of housing.

Worries over el-Khayat were also linked to his group’s current positions and its strict and hardline ideology. The group calls for strict implementation of Islamic Shariah law, which involves imposing Islamic dress code on women, banning alcohol, preventing mixes of sexes and others. Becoming a governor in a touristic city while holding these ideas, added to touristic workers’ worries already suffering from battered tourism industry.

Tourism has been dealt a blow since the ouster of Mubarak and break up of security in 2011.

For residents of Luxor, the main city in a province of around 1 million people, tourism is the main employer in the area — and practically the only industry besides farming and a sole sugar factory processing the region’s sugar cane crops.

The number of tourists coming to Egypt fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to $8.8 billion. Last year, the numbers climbed up to just over 10 million, but most tourists go to the beach resorts of the Red Sea, staying away from Nile Valley sites like Luxor.

Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Banjul in Gambia. Guillaume Colin & Pauline / Flickr.com

Behind a row of luxurious resorts overlooking sparkling blue seas in Gambia’s capital, Banjul, lies more meagre lodgings, nicknamed Mile 2 Hotel. A stone’s throw from the white sands that make this west African country the region’s biggest package holiday destination, the mosquito-infested Mile 2 Central Prison houses Gambians jailed for offences including distributing T-shirts without official permission.

Ten of thousands of winter sun-seekers flock to mainland Africa’s smallest country each year, drawn by its stunning beaches, bird-watching and haunting kora music. As the Arab spring pushes holidaymakers from the former north African hotspots – Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia – Gambian tour operators say bookings have increased over the last twelve months. But beneath the package holiday gloss is the acute paranoia of one of Africa’s worst police states.

“Gambia is not a military dictatorship but nobody likes to mention the president’s name,” said a tour guide, who agreed to speak only during a canoe trip on the meandering Gambia river, far from earshot. “Tourism has brought jobs but we cannot even discuss improving the sector.”

Since taking power in a bloodless coup in 1994, president Yahya Jammeh swapped army fatigues for a white gown and sceptre, and rules through a potent mix of state brutality and mysticism, claiming to cure a long list of maladies from Aids to erectile dysfunction. Enfolded by Senegal, which is one of Africa’s most successful democracies, Gambia has some of the continent’s worst human rights records.

Tourism has become an economic lifeline under the regime of a president who urges “every Gambian to be a policeman”.

After years holidaying in Tunisia, Emma, a housewife from Gloucestershire in her 50s, chose Gambia as an alternative this year. “The only thing I know about the president is his portrait is absolutely everywhere, isn’t it? But I’d recommend this place to anyone, you’re absolutely safe here,” she added, sipping a cocktail as jewel-coloured birds darted through baobab trees and peacocks strolled by her hotel pool.

Many of Gambia’s 1.7 million citizens face a much darker reality. Activist and former minister Amadou Scattred Janneh was sentenced to life imprisonment for distributing T-shirts at a rally. He shares a cell with a 24-year-old jailed for creating an online social media profile using the president’s name.

Janneh said that in November last year he saw nine prisoners apparently randomly dragged out of their cells and executed by firing squad.”It was very traumatic. No-one knew what criteria they used,” he said. “One person had already served their term, another had been in jail for eight months, another for 27 years.”

A spokesperson for the European Union, which earmarked €76m (£64.6m) in development aid to Gambia for the period 2008–13, said it had cut funding by 20 per cent following “concerns” about human rights in Gambia.

While Jammeh has fans – literacy and infrastructure have improved over his two decades in charge – his secret police, disguised as everything from gigolos to street hawkers, have arrested people for reacting “indifferently” when his presidential convoy passes.

“When Jammeh passes on the street everybody rushes out to smile and wave, but you cannot say what is in another person’s heart,” said a local journalist, whispering despite loud music playing in a near-empty garden bar. He changed the subject instantly as a gardener approached to trim hibiscus plants nearby.”Initially people considered Jammeh a buffoon and laughable, like they did Idi Amin, but he’s a dangerous buffoon,” said Bakary Darboe, a former vice-president now exiled in England, recalling the notoriously paranoid Ugandan. Former minister Janneh predicted that one day Gambians will have had enough. “Gambia will not have anything like the Tunisia or Libya uprisings, but there’s a real possibility of violent upheaval. Gambians have been pushed to the wall,” said Janneh.

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Officials say a draft law aims to raise $100 billion in yearly revenues, bypass bureaucracy and create an industrial hub for shipping along the 192 km (120-mile) strip.

Those opposing argue it gives the president absolute powers to seize land.

Last month, protestors in Port Said stormed a conference that aimed to showcase the port development plan, forcefully removing attendees.

While demonstrations have been limited to government buildings, activists in Suez and surrounding areas say if a draft law is passed, they could aim to disrupt the flow of shipping through Suez – a vital chokepoint for global trade especially goods and oil to Europe.

“The response to the project shows the deep distrust that many Egyptians have towards (President Mohamed) Mursi’s government and increasingly of the Muslim Brotherhood,” said James Petretta of risk consultancy Maplecroft.

“While the government is desperate to increase revenue and signal to the world that Egypt is ‘open for business’, plans to put this into action are likely to be rushed and at times haphazard.”

Mursi’s cash-strapped administration is battling a slump in tourism, sliding currency reserves and failure to reach agreement with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan due to required austerity measures. Tolls paid by ships using the canal bring in around $5 billion annually.

A copy of the draft law seen by Reuters states the president has the right to determine the area of the Suez project and the authority’s board of directors, appointed by the president, “can own land and property, including the sequestering of ownership for public interest”.

The draft says the authority’s finances are considered “private funds”. Opponents argue such a clause will allow the state to use land as an asset against sukuk debt raisings, which if Egypt is unable to repay, can be claimed by investors.

“We are afraid that some countries who have interests with the Muslim Brotherhood, such as Qatar, will abuse the right of the lands and take advantage of this,” Islam Mosadaq, a leading Suez activist, told Reuters.

Government spokesman Alaa el-Hadidi said the draft had since been “rewritten in a very comprehensive way and will be submitted to the cabinet”.

In recent weeks opposition to the plan has spread and a group of retired generals are seeking to coax the military to block the proposals.

“If we can’t repay the sukuk, foreign firms can claim the land,” retired general Abdulrafi Darwish said.

RISING SHIPPING RISKS

Thousands of activists in Suez, Ismailia and Port Said have been coordinating opposition, threatening they could escalate their protests to disrupt the main operations control centre in Suez.

“I hope that we do not reach the point where we have to stop navigation at the canal but if they pass the law then this is … the last step to escalate,” said Mohamad Hanafy, a leading activist in Ismailia.

Cairo says such moves would be “a direct threat to national security”.

“There are certain red lines. Anyone who thinks they can disrupt navigation of the Suez canal will be considered doing an act against Egypt’s national security and will be dealt with accordingly,” government spokesman el-Hadidi said.

Shipping sources say some vessels calling at Port Said have experienced robberies in recent months. There have already been minor stoppages affecting the canal this year by other protest groups.

“Ports along the Suez Canal are at a somewhat higher risk of being affected by riots, as also demonstrated in the past,” said Jakob Larsen, maritime security officer with BIMCO, the world’s largest private ship owners’ association.

“Judging from the economic and political outlook as reported by our local contacts, things are likely to get worse before they get better.”

Using the canal is still the quickest route between Asia and Europe, saving an estimated 15 days of journey time on average. Shipowners have told Reuters that re-routing around the Cape of Good Hope might be a consideration if disruptions worsened.

Writing by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Veronica Brown and William Hardy. Copyright (2013) Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions. 

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Mark Harkin / Flickr

Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s Brussels Airlines unit said ticket prices and revenue on the African routes in which it specializes face a squeeze as rivals including Turkish Airlines pour capacity into the continent.

The carrier had forecast 5 percent sales growth in Africa this year and now faces a decline, while yields, a measure of revenue-per-seat equating to fares, are also under pressure, Chief Executive Officer Bernard Gustin said in an interview.

“Africa is still very strong, but not as strong as we had expected,” Gustin said. “Everyone is talking about the new competitors, especially Turkish. We suffer a lot from them.”

Brussels, in which Lufthansa has a 45 percent stake, serves 19 African cities after doubling the number in the decade to 2012. The carrier also has an arm in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a market predecessor Sabena first tapped 90 years ago.

Turkish Airlines is among a clutch of high-growth operators led by Dubai-based Emirates that are adding African routes to feed their hubs. Like Lufthansa, other major European carriers are also tapping historic ties to win custom as a commodities boom boosts demand in the least-developed travel market.

Gustin said passenger numbers on African routes this year should still exceed 2012’s total of 716,000 — which represented an 11 percent increase — and that Brussels is defending its market, albeit at a cost of lower average fares all round.

Middle class

“We are keeping our market share, so they must also suffer,” the CEO said by telephone from the Belgian capital.

With people sometimes going via Brussels even between major cities such as Nairobi and Dakar, there’s huge pent-up demand, he said. Economic growth should also spur the opening up of secondary routes and connections to mining and industrial areas.

“Africa is about growth,” Gustin said. “There is a middle class developing and people want to travel — have to travel — for business. If we don’t invest the others will eat us up.”

The African network offered by Brussels Air was one of the attractions of the company to Cologne-based Lufthansa, Europe’s second-biggest carrier, and it’s vital that those routes be “integrated in a general Africa strategy,” he said.

Lufthansa’s overall African seating accounts for only 5 percent of the company’s total offering, versus 12 percent at European No. 1 Air France-KLM Group, according to Goldman Sachs.

Mounting losses

Africa failed to contribute growth at Lufthansa last year, with sales down 7.2 percent to 652 million euros ($865 million) — making the region the smallest of the six for which the company breaks out figures and the only one to show a decline.

Brussels has posted cumulative operating losses of more than 170 million euros since Lufthansa’s 65 million-euro investment in 2009, and the German company has so far failed to take up an option of buying the remaining 55 percent of stock.

The Belgian business aims to lift overall sales 3 percent this year, less than half the pace of the 7.4 percent gain to 1.11 billion euros in 2012. It projects an annual operating loss as high as 20 million euros, before a net profit in 2014.

Still, Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz said March 15 that progress at Brussels has been “decidedly gratifying” and that the unit had the potential to become a “new pearl” in the group.

Brussels will add about one long-haul aircraft per year to its eight leased Airbus SAS A330s, with the fleet potentially reaching 12 over time, according to Gustin. Extra jets will help direct trans-Atlantic traffic into Belgium, swelling numbers on onward African services, he said. Flights to Washington begin on June 18 following a first U.S. route to New York last year.

“Being in Africa only, with just four aircraft like we did five years ago, isn’t sufficient,” Gustin said.

The overall fleet could increase from 39 planes to 50, with 12 BAE Systems Plc Avro RJ100 regional jets replaced either by more regional aircraft or a choice of larger Airbus A320-family jets — of which Brussels already has 19 — or the Bombardier Inc. CSeries model that Lufthansa is buying for its Swiss unit.

Brussels has drawn 45 million euros of a 100 million euro Lufthansa loan, and may not need the rest, with restructuring ahead of plan thanks to lower fuel costs and a more favorable dollar-euro exchange rate. First-quarter productivity improved 15 percent on a new labor agreement and fleet streamlining.

Editors: Chris Jasper, Benedikt Kammel. To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt at rweiss5@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net. 

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After visiting two countries, Uganda and Tanzania, Australian film producer Benjamin Dowie came up with a gorgeous video, grandly titled “This is Africa”, and it is indeed worth watching. Nevermind that the 55 countries that make up the giant diverse continent of Africa cringe every time anyone says: “Oh, I really want to go to Africa this year!”

Besides the title and the opening — never start your travel video with a shot of your aircraft landing, through the clouds, please — it is as nuanced as a short travel video can be while still resorting to cliches. The right generic boxes of any “African” video are checked as well: poverty, shots of white people on safaris, Mt Kilimanjaro, wildlife and of course, poor half-naked children running behind cars, smiling.

These nitpicks aside, this is a great short video, shot and cut well, with right filters and tone, overlaid with great ambient uplifting music, and also manages to show daily street and rural life in these parts as much as tourists who try and skim bit below the surface — beyond the safaris — can.

THIS IS AFRICA from Benjamin Dowie on Vimeo.

In case you’re interested in the background ambient music:

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These latest security measures are in response to the downturn in tourism brought about by the feelings of insecurity in the Sahel. They are an attempt to encourage tourists to return. Mid-January’s horrendous attack by terrorists on the Tiguentourine gas plant has further hampered tourism.

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Anthony Bourdain gets ready to board a boat on the Congo River in the season finale of Parts Unknown. Screenshot / Parts Unknown

The first fascinating season of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown ended on Sunday evening with a trip to the Congo.

Bourdain explained the trip as the culmination of a “multi-decade obsession” with Africa’s largest country, but even he was unprepared for what awaited his crew.

“No show I’ve ever made has been more difficult, more frustrating, more uncertain, maddening or dangerous,” writes Bourdain on the CNN blog.

Tonight on #PartsUnknown #Congo Far and away the most difficult show we’ve ever made

— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) June 9, 2013

Bourdain’s original inspiration was Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and he was well educated on the violent tumultuous history of the country: A country ravaged and a people slaughtered in search of ivory and rubber, an omnipresent colonial power that vanished, and the rebel forces left to kill for an inch of power in its wake.

What Bourdain also seems surprised to find was a country still standing proud. Railway workers that show up to work without pay to keep the railway ready for action, library staff that organize and clean a long-forgotten collection, and a society that would buy soap over a sandwich to stay clean.

Towards the Congo River

Bourdain’s journey to the Congo River begins in Rwanda where the crew meets with their fixer, Dan. A concrete wall is what separates the relative normality of paperwork, procedure, and Wi-Fi in Rwanda from a country where good food, security, and, at times sanity, are hard to come by.

The first stop is Goma: A city where one million Congolese live at the base of a smoldering volcano. A city where locals say wildlife once attracted visitors.

“Goma was a touristy place for a long time,” they say. “Things change quickly in Congo.”

ZPZ Productions then mapped the presence of various rebel groups in the region using bright colors. A nod to the visual effects throughout the series that have highlighted important economic and geopolitical concepts by taking the viewer outside of the destination with an effective visualization. (See Episode 7 recap.)

In the crew’s next stop, Kisangani, Bourdain visits with the Wagenia fishing village where the crew eats tiger fish steamed in a banana leaf. It is one of the few moments of the episode focused on cooking techniques in Congo. Local fishermen use a system of wooden poles and acrobatic precision to catch what fish are left in the river.

The fishermen explain that tourists used to visit when the river was more plentiful and the region more peaceful, a business they hope will one day return.

Bourdain also looked at the country’s near non-existent transport infrastructure. The crew opts for a flight earlier in the episode stating that road travel in nearly impossible and later explores the quiet Kisangani train station. The story of workers arriving at the station, which “has slowly receded into the jungle,” every day ”ready and waiting for the situation to improve” is heartbreaking.

“If only we could receive modern technical support, we could get moving today,” tells the railway minister to Bourdain.

On the Congo

Once on the Congo, Bourdain and crew make a quick stop to meet with a local dignitary. The local is outfitted in a full suit with native headgear and the entire town seems to have descended on the river to meet Bourdain. He is short on time and stays just long enough to gift the town a small black pig and receive a large copper bracelet.

Bourdain is authentically floored when he discovers the origins of the traditional bracelet, which has been passed through the generations only to end up with him.

The epiphanies are few and far between as the river journey continues and Bourdain becomes increasingly frustrated with the execution of his dream.

After funneling chicken blood in plastic water bottles, losing power in the midst of his chopping, and dining in the company of fist-sized moths, Bourdain gives into reality, stating, ”…I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.”

Dull knife makes cutting chickens a bit more adventurous #Partsunknown

— Erik Osterholm (@FiveDegreesWest) June 10, 2013

The episode and Congo river cruise ends at Yangambi Research Library. Similar to the train station, the library staff arrives each day to maintain the grounds and library’s vast content. Their dedication to the colonial institution brings Bourdain to question whether some of the Congolese view Belgium colonization as “the good times,” but no answers or solutions are realized by the end of the episode.

Bourdain seems only more conflicted and pensive about that state of the places he visits, and, at least we hope, ready to keep searching, exploring, and exposing the world to viewers of Parts Unknown.

Parts Unknown returns for season two on September 25.

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Lioness rests with its cub at Tanzania's Serengeti National Park. Noor Khamis / Reuters

With excitement and expectations to see a tourism boom in Africa, tourist stakeholders are looking at the official tour of the continent by US President Barack Obama as a kick-start to tap the rich American tourist market through publicity of his visit.

Once regarded as the continent “doomed with diseases, wars, and poverty” by most Americans, Africa is now a target continent for US residents in terms of investment and holidays, according to sources from the US Department of Commerce. Rich with wildlife, natural tourist attractions, diversified cultures, and favorable weather conditions for human health, Africa is growing to be the number one US investment destination, taking advantages of rich resources including big reserves of minerals, natural gas, and oil in trillions of cubic meters, wildlife, just to mention a few.

Tanzania is among three African nations in Mr. Obama’s week-long tour of this continent. Tanzanian Tourism Minister Mr. Khamis Kagasheki said the tour of the US President will attract more Americans to know this country through global media splash. Mr. Obama will be accompanied by a delegation comprising between 500 to 700 US business personalities and who will be booked in various hotels available in places he will be visiting. America is a number one tourist source market which Tanzania is currently targeting.

According to the Tanzania Tourist Board, the official tourist marketing, promotion, and publicity institution, American tourists and holiday makers rank second after Britons. About 60,000 American tourists visit Tanzania every year, against 65,000 Briton tourists visiting various tourist attractions available in this African safari destination. Mr. Kagasheki said the number of tourists who visited Tanzania last year rose to over the one million mark, 24 percent upward from 867,994 against the previous year.

The increase was a result of an increased number of accommodation facilities as well as better infrastructure made up of roads and airways to get the tourists to their destinations, Tanzanian officials say. By March this year, up to 750,797 tourists visited national parks, bringing in more than 65.7 million US dollars. Americans are counted to be the high-quality and high-spending tourists visiting Tanzania, including trophy hunters counted to be over 4,000 per year. Trophy hunting in Tanzania has been attracting rich US tycoons mostly from Texas and who are ranked among the highest-spending holidaymakers visiting this country.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro Crater, and Serengeti National Park are the leading tourist sites attracting most photographic tourists, while Selous Game Reserve with a total area of 55,000 square kilometers is the leading paradise for trophy hunters. Mr. Kagasheki said his ministry was thinking of coming up with a slogan: “Obama has visited Tanzania, when are you?” which could be propagated later to, “Three American Presidents have already toured Tanzania, what about you?”

But, big tourist hotels in Tanzania’s capital city of Dar es Salaam are expecting to reap big sums from Obama’s entourage. During the visit of George Bush in this country way back in 2008, all big hotels were expensively fully booked by Americans while tourists from other nationalities were diverted to small hotels and guest houses. Tourism authorities and businesses from Dar es Salaam and the northern Tanzania’s tourist city of Arusha have been striving to attract Obama’s entourage and take its advantage in gaining more profits and mileage in the global tourism industry.

Tanzania, the largest country in East Africa, is focused on wildlife conservation and sustainable tourism, with approximately 28 percent of the land protected by the government for wildlife and nature conservation. Tanzania’s tourism is mostly made by 16 national parks and 32 game reserves, the legendary Mt. Kilimanjaro, the famous Serengeti wildlife park, Ngorongoro Crater, the Olduvai Gorge where the skull of the earliest man was discovered, Selous Game Reserve, and Ruaha National Park, now the largest national park in Africa and Zanzibar.

Over 200 African descendants in the United States Diaspora gathered in Tanzania three years ago in a mission to explore the ancestral origins of their great grandparents during the African Diaspora Heritage Trail Conference. With a theme, “An African Homecoming: Exploring the Origins of the African Diaspora and Transforming Cultural Heritage Assets into Tourism Destinations,” the conference participants discussed and broadened their knowledge on Africa that would help them to protect African Diaspora traditions and legacy found in communities they originated.

Most delegates were from the United States of America; Latin America; and the Caribbean islands of Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, Martinique, and St. Lucia. The conference helped to preserve the global presence and cultural influence of people of African descent and contribute this knowledge to the world stage of history, culture, and contemporary affairs, organizers once said. The conference attracted educational, governmental, and tourism professionals. It brought to Tanzania and Africa, prominent African-Americans and celebrities to trace their origin.

Obama’s roots which are in Kenya had so far added more excitement among Africans to see the first African-American President of the United States. Other than the African Diaspora Heritage Trail Conference, several tourist and investment gatherings took place in Tanzania during the past 10 years, all organized in the United States. These were the Third African International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) held in Dar es Salaam in 2003 Dar es Salaam, the 33rd Africa Travel Association (ATA) Conference held in Arusha in 2008, and the Eighth Leon H. Sullivan Conference and the First Travelers Philanthropy Conference held in Arusha the same year (2008), all organized in the United States.

In 1997, the current US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton, visited Tanzania for the first time to become the first American First Lady to visit this country, accompanied by her daughter Chelsea. Looking at the African continent as a whole, Obama’s visit to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania had so far attracted many Africans with great expectations to see this continent be more exposed in America. Compared to Europe, Asia, and now China, Africa remained on the dark side of the American people. The tour of President Obama in Africa, the countries he will visit are expecting to see an increase in publicity that would create a great opportunity to the tourism industry.

Africa will be the home of the largest workforce in the world within 50 years. In the short term, rapid urbanization is contributing to a growing demand for consumer goods and fueling a dire need for infrastructure and other development, said the US Senate Chair for Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, Senator Chris Coons. “As American companies increase investments in Africa, they will improve their access to these dynamic markets, resulting not only in attractive rates of return on investments, but also in growth for the U.S. economy that will lead to job creation,” Senator Coons said in March this year. “The Department of Commerce can and should serve as an important force multiplier for American companies abroad.

Yet, the reduced footprint of the Foreign Commercial Service in Africa translates into missed opportunities for American businesses. We must do more to ensure the presence of the Commercial Service is aligned with current market demands and future business opportunities on the continent,” he said in his recently-published report. America is home to a large and vibrant African Diaspora population – a group with personal, familial, cultural, and business ties to their home countries. Engaging the African Diaspora community in the United States will strengthen economic ties and promote trade and development.

The United States possesses a valuable resource in its vibrant African Diaspora communities. These individuals, communities, and businesses offer a bridge to the African continent that should be leveraged to its full potential to develop economic opportunities, Senator Coons added. The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs convened to explore the economic potential of sub-Saharan Africa and identify concrete, substantive steps forward to increase U.S.-Africa investment and trade and which provided a roadmap for developing a more cohesive, effective strategy for US economic engagement with Africa in both the public and private sectors.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from US Eturbo News. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.

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