Figures recently released by the Tunisian National Tourist Office (TNTO) revealed that the tourism sector performed well during the first two quarters of 2007. It is expected that tourism revenues will surpass the previous forecasts made by the Ministry of Tourism by the end of the year. While indicators are positive, there is nevertheless a gradual overhaul of the tourism sector highlighting the weaknesses of tourism in Tunisia. Constrained by its seasonability and its image as a mass tourism destination, Tunisia needs to raise its profile internationally and maximize the potential of the sector.

Tourism numbers on the rise

According to the latest statistics released by the TNTO, the measures initiated to promote and develop the tourism sector are showing results. The 2007 tourism season should reach higher levels than in 2006. All indicators have risen compared to last year: with 4.41 million visitors, tourism was up 3.7%, tourism revenues up 9.1% to $1.45 billion, the number of night stays by 1% and the occupancy rate in hotels by 2.6%. According to the TNTO, it is expected that tourism revenues will increase by 8.6% in 2007.

Tourism is a major pillar of the national economy, contributing around 7% of the gross domestic product. It is Tunisia’s top foreign currency earner as well as the country’s biggest employer with 400,000 jobs. Though the TNTO figures point to a healthy tourism sector, Tunisia captures only a tiny portion of tourist flows worldwide — less than 1%. Moreover, the number of European tourists (in particular Germans, British, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Maltese), a traditional target of the Tunisian tourism sector, is on a downward trend. Therefore, the country is looking at courting new areas, particularly booming markets such as Eastern Europe and further afield such as the US, Australia, China and Japan. These promising markets are progressing fast — 8%, 7.3%, 56.5% and 18.3% respectively. Tourism in North Africa as a whole is also on the rise, especially in Libya (8.4%) and Algeria (2.6%).

Although the sector is developing, quantity ranks before quality and much needs to be done to boost Tunisian tourism.

As one industry insider said to Oxford Business Group, “Though Tunisia was a pioneer of mass tourism in the 1970s, it has been unable to prepare and adapt itself to globalization and is now penalized by its image as a mass tourism destination. Constrained by its seasonality, Tunisia must diversify tourist activities and infrastructure by maximizing its resources. In this way, the tourism season will extend all year round and will attract well-known tour operators. The new Enfidha airport will contribute to develop year-round tourism thanks to regular flights. The means and abilities exist but Tunisia does not develop and promote its tourism sector efficiently enough at the international level.”

Upgrading hotel services

Aware of the gaps to be filled in the sector, the government launched a major upgrading campaign for hotels in 2005, with the aim of raising the competitiveness and profitability of hotels, improving the level of services offered to tourists, and cashing in on the diversification of tourist activities while developing the communication strategy. An assessment of the first phase, which was completed in July, will be released by the end of September and will identify the strengths and weaknesses of the sector. The findings will be used to amend the overall upgrading program as necessary. There is strong potential for developing tourism in Tunisia, provided public authorities’ national development strategy can maximize the capacity of the sector to raise the profile of Tunisia abroad. However, the problem of the seasons may not be so easily solved, with only the southern half of the country close to Djerba truly appropriate fo

In a drive to increase Morocco’s value-added agricultural production, the first of 10 state-of-the art olive farms are expected to be planted in the region of Beni Hellal in September. The olive farms, each with 1,000 hectares of olive trees, will be concentrated in the Haouz, Tensift, Tadla and Meknes regions. With the first harvest expected in 2010, the majority of the oil produced will be for export, given the growing appetite for olive oil products in Europe.

Crédit Agricole du Maroc and the Société Générale Asset Management joined forces to launch the olive cultivation program. The investment fund, named Olea Capital, aims to revitalize Morocco’s centuries-old olive oil industry. The project aims to take Morocco’s olive oil production to 30,000 tons per year.

The Moroccan government is equally committed to boosting olive oil production. The National Olive Production Plan aims to dramatically increase the scale of the industry. At present, some 500,000 hectares of land are dedicated to olive cultivation, a figure the government seeks to double by 2010. The plan also focuses on raising the quality of olive oil, most of which does not comply with international standards.

Tariq Sijilmassi, president of Crédit Agricole Morocco, said he believes Olea Capital is an important step for agriculture in Morocco, a sector “in need of success stories” and in need of “a modern financial framework.”

Modernization of presses needed

The fund will inject money into rural areas and help to encourage balanced economic growth.

Sijilmassi said he is confident Moroccan olive oil is a strong product that will see good investment returns, due to its popularity in the European market. Olea Capital is the equivalent of a Plan Azur for the agricultural sector, said Sijilmassi (Plan Azur being the national tourism campaign to boost arrivals to 10 million per year by 2010 and to create 600,000 new jobs).

Morocco has a long-established tradition of olive oil production, but existing methods can be inefficient — and sometimes unhygienic. At present, most olive oil is produced in small artisan-style oil presses know as maâsras, many of which are still powered by horses. There are an estimated 16,000 of these in use in rural Morocco. The maâsras is not of a high enough quality to produce olive oil for export, with most of the oil being consumed by the producers or sold in local markets.

“Maâsras are also wasteful; after pressing by traditional methods, the pulp and pits still contain a lot of oil,” said Mustapha Ismail-Alaoui of the Institut Agricole et Vétérinaire Hassan II. It is estimated that up to 900,000 liters of oil are wasted every year. Storage and transportation are also major obstacles to the growth of the industry.

Learning from Tunisia

Harvested olives are often left in boxes or piled on the ground for weeks and allowed to ferment before they are processed. To stop the rot, farmers cover the olives with coarse salt, but since they are often not washed before pressing, salt finds its way into the oil. By international standards, a lot of the oil is not fit for human consumption due to its high acidity, said Ismail-Aloaui, although many Moroccans are used to the taste.

the fund will inject money into rural

areas and help

encourage balanced economic growth

According to Philippe Brosse, director-general of Société Générale Asset Management, the central aim of Olea Capital and the National Olive Production Plan is capacity building to meet a rising demand. These projects will promote efficient, modern methods that should enable Morocco to become an internationally competitive producer of olive oil.

However, Morocco needs to be careful not to emulate the semi-success of Tunisia on the olive oil market. Although a major producer in the Mediterranean region, much of Tunisia’s production is sold in bulk to Spanish and Italian firms, who then blend and brand it as their own. In doing this, much of the value-added is lost to the Tunisian economy. For Morocco’s plan to work, it needs to consider more than what happens before the oil leaves the farm gate.

Less than two weeks after Morocco’s parliamentary elections, King Mohammed VI on September 19 chose Abbas el-Fassi, leader of the nationalist Istiqlal (Independence) Party, as Morocco’s next prime minister.

On September 7, Morocco’s parliamentary elections ended in a win for the Istiqlal Party, a partner in Morocco’s ruling coalition, though marked by a record-low turnout. Istiqlal won 52 seats in the 325-member lower house, up from 48 in the last parliament, followed by the opposition Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) with 47 seats, and the Union of Socialist Popular Forces (USFP) with 36 seats.

The complex electoral system, based on proportional representation, makes it very difficult for a single party to gain an absolute majority. Intense negotiations over forming a new governing coalition will thus follow. All eyes are now set on the appointment of a new cabinet, which should take place in the next few weeks.

According to political analysts, the disappointing electorate participation, down from 52% in the last election in 2002 to 37% of the 15.5 million voters, reflects Moroccans’ feeling that the government has not done enough to eradicate widespread poverty, unemployment and corruption.

However, economic growth and unemployment dominated the Moroccan election. During the course of the campaign, all of the parties made ambitious pledges to cut taxes and create jobs.

Unemployment remains a key concern for Moroccans, in a country where over 60,000 university graduates enter the job market every year. The Istiqlal Party pledged to create 1.3 million new jobs over the next five years and lower unemployment to less than 7% from its current 10% by promoting opportunities in key industrial and service sectors, including agriculture, fisheries, car assembly, telecoms and health. These have been highlighted as key areas for economic development.

Following through on commitments

The party said it is committed to achieve GDP growth of 6%, excluding cereal production (after efforts to diversify and not rely upon cereal revenues following this year’s crop failures). It has also promised to allocate Dh1,200 ($146) to underprivileged families for enabling each child to enroll in school; Dh6,000 ($732) to families caring for a disabled person and Dh3,000 ($366) to those looking after an elderly person.

Another pledge worth noting is the party’s commitment to tax cuts, which were high on the agenda for both Istiqlal and the USFP during the campaign. Istiqlal proposed cutting the personal income tax imposed on middle-class workers to 35% down from 40% at present, and reducing Value Added Tax (VAT) from 20% to 18% by 2012. It also proposed dividing business income taxes into three categories according to size and revenue: 2.5% for micro-companies (those with revenues not exceeding Dh100,000), 25% for SMEs and 35% for large businesses and financial and service sector companies. All the political parties stressed the need to ease tax burdens on companies to encourage both recruitment and investment.

An impressive and bold economic reform platform is evident, but how and when it will be delivered remains to be seen. Morocco’s economic indicators are at a current high for this quarter with real GDP growth reaching 8% and unemployment falling to just below the 10% mark. But as unemployment and poverty are the main concerns of the electorate, the new government will need to commit to economic reform soon.

What to do when you want to rehabilitate a country, attract investment, make money, preserve the environment and have the world’s media cover your plan as if you were helping save the Earth all at the same time?

The answer: announce an environmental plan and pay for roughly 200 journalists to come and cover it. That is just about what Libya did by launching the Green Mountain Project on September 13. This ambitious mission aims to create “the world’s first large-scale conservation and sustainable development project,” one that Libya promises will help the environment, save energy and make money from tourism — resorts, archaeological sites and other resources.

And there is nothing wrong with killing several birds with one stone. If there is one country that should optimize its moves and maximize strategies it is Libya, a country still largely confined to its insular ideology. But beyond the brochure distributed by Clownfish, the event’s PR handlers, one filled with buzz words like “sustainability” and “zero carbon emissions,” the project is as ambitious as it is full of good intentions. Indeed, even if a small part of the Green Mountain gets off the ground, Libya and the Libyans will probably be better off than before, but one felt that over the course of the trip, we should have read the small print.

Ripe for a fresh start

Three times larger than France, with about 2,000 km of a coastline as turquoise-transparent as the most pristine Greek islands and an archaeological heritage that is breathtaking (and still largely undiscovered), Libya is ripe for a fresh start. While mistakes in urban planning and development are often irreversible (how many developed countries today wish they could go back in time?), Libya is a country that is pledging to do it right. Thus on September 13, the well-rounded, Western-educated son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam, unveiled the Cyrene Declaration before an audience of journalists from outlets ranging from CNN to BBC, Euronews to La Nación, The Times to The Independent, all flown in for free in a well-orchestrated PR-event to polish the image of a country desperately in need of rehabilitation. And desperate it should be: In 2006, Libya was the country with the least amount of investment in the whole world.

The Green Mountain Project aims to be a holistic approach to developing an area of about 5,500 square kilometers, along some 200 kilometers of the Mediterranean coastline. In this area, reliance on oil and gas would be diminished by replacing it with wind and solar power; archaeological sites would be duly protected and surrounded with infrastructure, making them tourist-friendly and more capable of generating revenue; local communities would learn to profit from their artifacts and traditions; microbanking would finance the participation of the local population in the economy and agriculture would be expanded and sustain the communities.

The plan would “create an estimated 65,000 jobs in ecotourism alone.” And all this is very much needed. According to the Libyan government, the total produce in Libya meets only 15% of the country’s overall demand for food, and 93% of the country is desert. Libya’s unemployment in 2004, if the CIA Fact Book is anything to go by, was officially recorded as 30%, higher than Iraq in 2005.

In his speech, Seif al-Islam told journalists that “20 years ago, this region was covered with half a million hectares of forest; now, there remains only 180,000,” while “the level of the water table has fallen from 200 meters below the surface to 600 meters below the surface in just 15 years.” Among the ruins of Cyrene, al-Islam reminded the audience that “in Roman times there was enough water to fill a cistern of one million cubic meters; the cistern is still there, but the water is gone.” So yes, we were all in agreement Libya needs this project. But how much will be realized?

Libya’s choice of partners would suggest that Seif al-Islam means what he says. Top officials from UNESCO were present at the event and are said to be on the board of directors of the governmental body recently created for the project. Environmentalists, NGOs and other worthy entities were invited to the ceremony of the Cyrene Declaration — a set of guidelines that pledges to “aim for CO2 neutrality on a regional scale,” among other very laudable, albeit unspecific, goals. The some specific goals sound very ambitious — even if we weren’t entirely sure who would build or pay for them — and include “sustainable Infrastructure — including renewable power generation, waste management and recycling facilities, closed-loop water systems and sustainable transport.”

“twenty years ago, this region was covered with half million hectares of forest; now, there remains only 180,000”

Preserving the coastline

In fact, the declaration is so vague that is raises doubts as to how binding the intentions will be. And amidst all the sound-bites and pledges of good environmental and sustainable ideas, microbanking, irrigation and solar power, the only things close to materializing so far are three, admittedly environmentally friend, hotels: Cyrene Grand Hotel, Spa Resort and Canyon Resort.

An hour before Seif al-Islam’s speech, the presentation of Stephan Behling, senior partner at Foster + Partners, the highly-regarded architectural firm working alongside the Libyan government for the project, was revealing. Helped by huge posters and exquisite small scale models of the region, he presented the hotel’s blueprint to the assembled media. Talking about the Canyon Resort, Behling said the idea was to make the resort follow the “principle of camouflage.” Embedded in the mountains, it will have a magnificent view of the Mediterranean and the canyons while being practically invisible from the sea, thus leaving the natural layout unspoiled. Using the Spanish resort of Benidorm as an example of what not to do (and apologizing to the Spanish journalists), Behling said that, unlike Benidorm, the sea view will not be interrupted by developments, which instead of being on the beach, would  be built at the bottom of the nearby coastal mountains, leaving the water in clear view of those who drive by. Thus, he said, the beaches will be free of developments and, to quote the brochure, “encourage preserved coastline for all.”

In a region where public beaches are increasingly rare, this is good news. Countries like Lebanon and Bahrain, for example, despite not much coastline, have restricted access to the sea, unlike countries like Brazil, where notwithstanding the endless coast no one is allowed to own a beach. But alas, further examination shows that Behling may not apply the same sound standards elsewhere in Libya. In the same brochure produced by the organizers, a proposed resort in Libya’s Leptis Magna archaeological region boasts a “unique seafront location adjacent to Leptis Magna and a private beach,” with “dedicated access to the ancient site from the hotel as well as direct access to the beach.” So much for the “preserved coastline for all” and avoiding the legacy of Benidorm.

The major investor in the Green Mountain project is allegedly Hassan Tatanaki, the owner of Challenger, a Libyan oil drilling company. One of his relatives present at the event told Executive that the whole vision came not from Seif al-Islam, but from Tatanaki, who needed the government as a partner if the project ever hoped to see the light of day and that it was Tatanaki, not the Libyan government, who paid for the press junket. This could simply be another case of authorship jealousy and fight for recognition, but by all accounts Tatanaki and the government are close enough. According to the Washington Post, in 1992, Tatanaki hired John M. Murphy, a former House Representative who was convicted of taking bribes from FBI agents pretending to be Arab sheikhs, to promote Libya abroad. The most plausible explanation is that it is a joint venture marrying Tatanaki’s commercial edge to Gaddafi Sr.’s genuine ecological and self-sustainability concerns.

“We are a backward country — people don’t

understand that we are damaging the land, damaging the environment”

Environment is an old concern

In fact, while the Green Mountain project is rumored to have been envisioned less than two months before its launch, Gaddafi has been talking about the need for environmental protection for a long time. Seemingly more rational than his famous Green Book suggests, the Libyan leader is quoted by Andrew Cockburn in National Geographic seven years ago, having just returned from the Green Mountains, as saying “We are a backward country — people don’t understand that we are damaging the land, damaging the environment.” And it is not only Gaddafi’s words that hint at his preoccupation. Despite economic embargoes imposed upon his country and notwithstanding his socialist rhetoric, Gaddafi may have done more for his people than other oil-rich countries, while still being more environmentally friendly.

Infant mortality is half that of the world average and less than in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan and Egypt. Unlike the United States, Libya is a subscriber to the Kyoto Agreement, and only 7% of the population lives below the poverty line, compared to around 13% in the US.

Still, clearly there is a long way to go. At the very place where journalists gathered to hear about the environment, light-bulbs were kept on all day and instead of using one or two buses to shuttle people to the venues, the organizers chose to use individual vans and release more carbon dioxide into the air. As for creating jobs in a revitalized tourism industry, most of the staff at the event came from Egypt or Lebanon, signalling a lack of experienced local workforce. But Libya is honest about its lack of expertise. And if Libya really means what is says, Seif al-Islam could be its best ambassador.

An architect, he is pursuing his PhD in Governance and International Relations at the London School of Economics. Speaking fluent English, and speaking off the cuff, al-Islam can be refreshing in his sincerity and, while one can see hints of his father’s well-known bluntness, al-Islam’s personally reworded his official speech to avoid blaming foreigners for such ills as global warming and archaeological looting.

One of the common — and dim-witted — criticisms levelled at Al Gore for his recent worldwide concert for a greener earth was made by the usual do-nothings, accusing the participating singers of polluting the environment by flying to the concerts. But al-Islam accepts he does not live in la-la land. One of the lines he chose to strike out of his speech was the following: “We will work hard to provide easy access and incentives for visitors to reach here by land and sea, cutting down on carbon emissions from aviation.”

Maybe Gore should help stage the inaugural concert.