Tourism: air travels are kick starting the recovery

Madagascar’s tourism operators and the national office of Tourism (local ONTM) expected travelers on their way to support their national soccer team during the World Cup taking place in South Africa to have a break and a stopover in the Great Isle. One week after the beginning of the competition, the expected rush has not yet capitalized. Antananarivo is however definitely a stopover for the travelers heading for Johannesburg.  The year 2010’s World Cup effect is, for the time being, the Air Madagascar airline company’s milking goat.  

The national company is actually doing far better than surviving in the early days of the upper season. The other companies are generally altering their flight schedule for the upper season. Corsairfly stepped up the tempo for flights towards Antananarivo to four flights per week. Madagascar air replied with a reduced price offer suited to the economic crisis situation. A  minus 50% discount is applied on the whole national network.  

The Malagasy company is expecting a 80 to 90% high reservation rate during the year 2010’s upper season. This performance is assured by a sharp increase for travels toward Asia. The year 2009’s 164% score on benefit forecasts made flights to and from Bangkok and Guangzhou the main contributors to the airliner’s deficit reduction, as the company is still struggling to recover its effectiveness level.  

The efforts to re-lauch Madagascar as a popular destination in spite of the on going political crisis, paid off in 2010. The year’s first quarter’s balance sheet reported the arrival of 42000 tourists, of 8% more than than the same period in 2009. The minister  Tourism minister greeted the recovery of the airline companies and travelers’ trust in the Malagasy market.  Irène Andréas noticed the competition’s effectiveness benefitting first and foremost the travelers.  

The air transportation is recovering in 2010, inn keeping, not yet. The hotels are still burdened by a low 30% booking rate. The situation is largely better in the country’s tourist regions benefitting from international direct flights to Europe or to the Indian Ocean’s other islands.   

France remains Madagascar’s first tourist supplier. The ONTM cooperating with the French Agency for Development is going to step up the destination’s promotion on the French market. This campaign is targeting a general audience through general and specialized internet entries.  In September 2010, a road show will be undertaken through several big French cities famed for being tourist tankers. The biggest event remains however the professional Top Resa show in Paris.  

The ONTM, mission of which is the promotion of Madagascar as a tourist destination, is going to tackle the German market with tours in big cities like München or Frankfurt-am-Main. The Great Isle will also be represented in the WTM show in London in November and by a road show started since June of this year. China is not forgotten with an involvement in the professional Citm show in Shanghai.