From safaris to the golf course
VACATION LOCATION THE HOTELS OF COTE D'IVOIRE ARE GEARING UP TO PROVIDE MORE THAN JUST COMFORTABLE ACCOMMODATION FOR THEIR VISITORS. BUT FOREIGN MONEY AND LOCAL BUSINESS INTEREST IS NEEDED TO GET THE COUNTRY INTO THE TRAVEL BROCHURES

MICHEL GUEDE ZADI Managing Director of SPDC

BLESSED WITH a diverse climate, vegetation and scenery, beautiful beaches and the rich cultural traditions of more than 60 ethnic groups, Côte d’Ivoire has much to offer foreign tourists.
“Our traditional values and resources have been kept intact,” says Camille Kouassi, Managing Director of the Côte d’Ivoire Agency for Tourism and the Hotel Trade, OITH. “The combination of culture and nature is at the forefront of our thinking in offering complete tours, including park visits and safaris.”
Yet Côte d’Ivoire figures in few travel company brochures, outside of France and some other European countries. “The real problem today is that we are not known by tour operators,” says Michel Guede Zadi, Managing Director of the SPDC group of hotels, comprising the Hôtel Ivoire, the Golf Hôtel, Ivoire Golf Club and the Hôtel President. “Recognition is our greatest weakness.”

ON THE BEACH Natural attractions and ethnic culture are strong selling points for promoting tourism in this relatively unexplored West African ountry

Both the government and companies working in the hospitality business are determined to change that situation. “There is a need to create new tourist products,” says Mr. Kouassi, “and to diversify them by improving the hotel infrastructure and the quality of services.”
Côte d’Ivoire does have a number of five-star hotels offering the level of service the discerning international traveller requires. But some of these hotels date back to the 1960s. Moreover, in Mr. Guede Zadi’s opinion, hotels need to take into account the communications-oriented attitude of many travellers these days and their demand for more than just luxury accommodation.

The flagship of the SPDC portfolio is the Hôtel Ivoire in Abidjan, which in recent years has been operated in a management partnership with Inter-Continental. As Mr. Guede Zadi outlines, the hotel is set to undergo a transformation in response to changing client taste. “These days, tourists are opting less and less for palatial hotels,” he says. “Rather, they are looking to get away from everything and, above all, to go to hotels where there is lots to do in the vicinity.”

He continues, “We are going to upgrade the Hôtel Ivoire by offering different types of product. The Tower will remain a five-star hotel, but we’ll make a four-star hotel out of the main building. Behind that, we’ll build hotel suites or ‘office hotels’ for business executives.”
The hotel industry suffered badly from the economic and political crisis. Occupancy rates fell to as low as 10 percent in some cases. In response, the SPDC group has been paying more attention to the domestic market, including targeting expatriate workers based in Côte d’Ivoire who can use their weekends or other holidays to get to know the country better.

DANIEL LIN Managing Director of Sofitel

In the case of Sofitel, in Abidjan, the management has been concentrating on building up its catering trade. “At a time of crisis, one has to do everything to boost tourism in the local market,” Sofitel’s Managing Director Daniel Lin explains. “The joker we had to play was the reputation we already had regarding the quality of our restaurants. The only investments I made in 2001 were in the kitchen!”
Sofitel offers an off-site gourmet catering service to businesses, embassies and even the state presidency. “But what are really missing are international seminars,” Mr. Lin admits. “During good years in the past, exhibitions and conferences were the icing on the cake for us. But we haven’t seen anything like that since 1999.”

GOOD LIFE modern comforts are essential to attract visitors

Sofitel is better placed than some others to benefit from the hoped-for recovery in business later this year or in 2003, as it had already started modernizing its facilities back in 1997. “We also created what we call the Espace Sofitel, which enables us to cater for cocktail parties of up to 500 people and dinners for 300,” he says.

The SPDC group, meanwhile, is planning to move into golf tourism, which is huge business in many parts of the world but has been little developed in West Africa. “At the Ivoire Golf Club we have a clubhouse where we’ll try out adding hotel rooms,” says Michel Guede Zadi. “At least a hundred rooms. From then on, we’ll be able to promote golf and slot ourselves into the international golfing circuit.”
To achieve its potential, tourism in Côte d’Ivoire will need both foreign money and a new sense of commitment by local businessmen, according to Camille Kouassi of the Côte d’Ivoire Agency for Tourism and the Hotel Trade.
“Foreign investors account for the biggest share in tourism investment,” he says. “The tourism sector in Côte d’Ivoire is quite new and is often considered an imported industry, so only a limited number of local businessmen have shown interest in the hotel trade and travel agencies.”