Madagascar: the tourism sector is preparing for a recovery

On Sainte-Marie Island, off the east coast of Madagascar, the majority of the inhabitants live from tourism.

Laetitia Bezain / RFI

Text by: Laetitia Bezain Follow

3 min

In Madagascar, tourism professionals are trying to recover after six months of total stoppage of their activities.

If the borders with foreign countries remain closed, hoteliers, tour operators, guides or even travel agencies on the Big Island are already ready to welcome tourists and, for the moment, rely on national visitors. 

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With our correspondent in Antananarivo,

With the resumption of domestic flights and

the ongoing reopening of land transport between regions

, residents can once again move around the country.

In Sainte-Marie, a small paradise island in the northeast of Madagascar, visitors are few in number but operators are trying to adapt.

It picked up a bit but it remains very weak,"

explains Jean-Jacques Ravello, the owner of the Lakana hotel.

At the moment, there are three hotels open.

There have been a lot of promotions that have been made in Sainte-Marie precisely to attract local customers.

There are great rates at most hotels for trade-in and we rely heavily on that.

 "

Signal of the gradual restart of the sector: the reopening of national parks which attract tourists, especially for the observation of lemurs.

Jonah Ramampionona is the president of the Association of Professional Tour Operators of Madagascar.

“ 

It gives us a breath of fresh air to restart because there are national tourists or foreign residents who want to get out of the capital or other regions.

This helps a little local operators, among others, hoteliers, local guides, transporters.

But in general, we tour operators, we wait for the opening of our skies to be able to continue our profession.

 "

The authorities remain cautious

.

Only the airport on the island of Nosy Be, in the north-west of the country, is authorized to reopen its flights to international tourists from October 1. 

The sector must also adapt to barrier gestures.

The meetings follow one another in recent days to set up health protocols.

“ 

These measures against Covid-19 are really a new process to apply in our profession but, for example, in Andasibe National Park I could see that the local guides are ready,

explains Jonah Ramampionona.

There is a temperature measurement and a distribution of hydroalcoholic gel at the entrance.

They accompany a maximum of groups of five customers in the park, with a distance of 10 meters between each group.

 "

At the Sainte-Marie tourist office, training took place at the start of the week with around thirty professionals from the sector.

“ 

We have summarized the most important actions to apply, but fully implementing the protocol would be downright impossible for some small hotels in Sainte-Marie.

For example, normally there should be a different entrance and exit, but some hotels only have one exit to enter and exit so this kind of recommendation could not be followed to the letter.

But the main ones will be applied and are gradually being put in place for the recovery

 ”, specifies Jean-Jacques Ravello.

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  • Madagascar

  • Coronavirus

  • Tourism

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