ASSAMBA
THE DETAILS of a Tourism Enhancement Fund proposal to ensure that small properties get their fair share of funding through grants will shortly be tabled in Parliament, according to Minister of Tourism and Entertainment Aloun Assamba.
Ms. Assamba made the announcement during her contribution to the 2006/2007 Sectoral Debate at Wednesday's sitting of the House of Representatives.
Turning to visitor arrival figures for this year, the Tourism Minister said that, for the period January to May, stopover arrivals numbered more than 733,000, a 16.6 per cent increase over the corresponding period in 2005.
She said preliminary airport arrival figures, for June 1-21 this year, show a 16.7 per cent increase over the similar period last year.
"For those who might be concerned that we are driving volume at the expense of returns, look at the actual figures for 2005 (which) reveal an increase in visitor expenditure of 6.9 per cent over 2004 for a total of US$1.53 million."
Minister Assamba said the 1,200 new rooms introduced last year served as a magnet to visitors, while increases in airlift to the island of about 90,000 additional seats also accounted for the strong performance of the sector into the first half of the year.
- Edmond Campbell
