MALI: Tour operators along the Niger River feel effect of the global financial crisis

Record ID: 453731

  • Title: MALI: Tour operators along the Niger River feel effect of the global financial crisis
  • Date: 14th March 2009
  • Summary: NIGER RIVER, INNER NIGER DELTA, MALI (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EARLY MORNING CAMP ON RIVER SHORE TOURIST IN PINASSE (TRADITIONAL BOAT) VARIOUS OF SAILBOAT PASSING TOURIST TAKING PHOTOGRAPH TWO HIPPOPOTOMI IN RIVER TOURIST WATCHING RIVER SHORE (SOUNDBITE) (Pidgin French) ABDOULAYE SARO, TOUR BOAT OWNER, SAYING: "I was working on three projects. When the projects finished I built my pinasse with the salary. I saved up and bought the pinasse to take tourists around." FISHERMAN'S BOY PADDLING BOAT TOURIST WATCHING FISHERMAN FISHERMAN ON BOAT HOLDING FISH FLOODED GRASSLANDS SARO TALKING TO TOURIST VARIOUS OF FISH BEING PREPARED AND COOKED ON BOARD BOAT PASSING AKKRA VILLAGE HARBOUR BOAT PASSES VILLAGE WITH MOSQUE ABDOULAYE AND TOURISTS ON HIS BOAT TOURIST WATCHING VILLAGERS ON RIVER SHORE VILLAGERS LOOKING AT TOURIST BOAT VIEW FROM SHORE OF BOATS CHILDREN WAVING (SOUNDBITE) (German) IRMTRAUD GSCHWENDNER, TOURIST, SAYING: "The most impressive thing for me was the friendly and open-hearted people that we met on the river shore and on the boats. They were waving and smiling at us." ABDULAYE ON HIS BOAT AT SUNSET VARIOUS OF IRMTRAUD TAKING PHOTOGRAPH AT SUNSET BOAT PASSING IN FRONT OF SETTING SUN MOPTI, MALI (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Bambara) ABDULAYE SARO, TOUR BOAT OWNER, SAYING; "I was earning a lot of money before, but this season I haven't earned enough. These days I don't have many tourists because there's too much competition and less tourists coming." TOURIST BOARDING PINASSE
  • Embargoed: 29th March 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mali
  • Country: Mali
  • Topics: Economic News,Travel / Tourism
  • Reuters ID: LVA28I3CSRBA2IPSVD6GZGSVTXKF
  • Story Text: The Inner Niger Delta in central Mali is one of the country's main tourist attractions. In previous years, 60,000 tourists visited the Mopti region annually.
    Nearly all of them included a trip down the Niger river on a traditional boat or pinasse in their stay, taking in the sights of life in and along the river.
    For the Bozo community who live in this area, fishing has been a way of life for centuries, but with profit margins growing tighter, some fisherman are throwing lines out for tourists.

    "I was working on three projects. When the projects finished I built my pinasse with the salary. I saved up and bought the pinasse to take tourists around," tour boat owner, Abdoulaye Saro explained.
    However, tourists numbers are falling for the first time in years in Mali. Local hotels have reported a 20 percent drop in business since the last high season, which they accredit to the world's current finanical crisis.
    For Saro this is a big blow to business. Saro made his money transporting equipment up and down the river for aid agencies, but with Mali's tourism boom, he had three pinasses built specifically for tours.
    As they are not suitable to haul cargo, he has no alternative source of income from the river.
    He says he hopes Mali's attractions will keep people coming despite the financial crisis.

    "The most impressive thing for me was the friendly and open-hearted people that we met on the river shore and on the boats. They were waving and smiling at us," German tourist Irmtraud Gshwendner said.
    March marks the end of Mali's tourism high season which started in October. Saro will have to wait until the month of August before he can charge premium rates again.
    A six day, 600 kilometer return trip from Mopti to Timbuktu on one of Saro's boats costs 415,000 FCFA (794 US dollars).

    "I was earning a lot of money before, but this season I haven't earned enough. These days I don't have many tourists because there's too much competition and less tourists coming," said Saro.
    When the last visitor leaves, Saro will start work on his garden plot, selling fruit and vegetables to make up the shortfall in this season's earnings.
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