© Florian De Paola
The Tourist Echo: how is tourism doing in Madagascar?
Joel Randriamandrato : We have new ambitions for tourism in Madagascar (the minister was appointed following the election of President Andry Rajoelina on January 8, 2019, editor’s note). We have never managed to reproduce our performance of 2008 (375,000 tourists, Editor’s note). In 2018, we welcomed around 300,000 foreign visitors, 40% of whom were French. 44% of these French tourists visit our country through a tour operator. However, we are convinced that we can do better. Madagascar has real assets, including the most precious of them: our natural heritage. But we must diversify our offer.
With what kind of products?
We have already targeted several forms of travel that we can accommodate. First, the clubs. An Italian tour operator (Alpitour, Editor’s note) opened a club in Nosy Be which works very well. The demand exists. We want to open six clubs across the island, each dedicated to a market. At the French level, Club Med could be an interesting partner for Madagascar. We also want to develop the luxury hotel industry, by opening a dozen establishments in idyllic locations. We also have other projects (golf, marinas, etc.) that we will promote to foreign investors during a large dedicated forum in Nosy Be in June. Because our strategy requires significant investments.
In what area in particular?
Air transport is one of the solutions. If we want to open six clubs, we will have to renovate and modernize the six airports concerned, so that they can accommodate large aircraft. We are banking on private operators, for whom the State will play its role as facilitator. For example, we will adopt a policy ofOpenSkywith the desire to attract major international hubs. We will also open the skies to domestic traffic. This clearly illustrates the openness that we want to bring to our tourism policy. We are ambitious, we want to change the country. For tourism, the objective is clear: we want to attract 500,000 tourists per year by the end of the presidential term (5 years, Editor’s note).