Monday, February 26, 2007

Its time we make Liberia a tourist friendly distination.


Today a friend of mine who just got back from a two weeks vacation to Liberia, was talking about how the country needs to improve the service sector of the economy so as to attract more tourist, and visitors. we have always taken the tourism industries for granted in our economy, and i think it is time that the government take a serious look at this sector of the economy, our neighbors in the region such as Ghana have done a splendid job of making their country tourist friendly, as a result hundreds of jobs have been created. Liberia has beautiful beaches, lakes and waterfall, the sapo national park in the south east is one the most diverse and largest protected forest in the region, we can use these to our advantage, if only the government will pay a little more attention. I know the president has a lot on her plate right now, but think about this, it may be years before UN sections on our natural resources such as diamonds are lifted, so does it not make sense to explore other options? some countries in the world only depend on tourism for revenues, we are bless to not only have all these natural resources, but also a beautiful land, and a beautiful culture all we need to do is develop it and show it off.

1 comment:

Josh Nice said...

i agree. there's lots of tourist potential. but i wish you wouldn't lay everything on the government, the way most liberians do. the government is broke. in order to develop tourism, the government is only one element in the mix. pioneering private sector investment is what it will take.

sometimes i go to robertsport to lay on the beach, about 3 hours from monrovia. if someone put even a small, clean hotel out there, they could make some steady money. robertsport is really charming in its own way, with paved streets and a rambling coastal walk.

and even today, the people in the town could sell sodas on the beach, or beer, to the tourists. right now there's literally no industry at all, except for the annoying guy pretending to be a park ranger, who asks you for $5 to use the beach.