The Socio-Economics of the West, Central and Southern African Coastal Communities

3.4 A Cultural Service: Tourism

totalling US$ 720.8 million per year, to be attributable to the entire coast of the GCLME (see appendix E). 176 Interwies and Görlitz (2013) considers “opportunities for tourism and recreation”, 177 totalling US$ 4.684 billion per year, as an “overall” value provided by CCLME coastal and ocean ecosystems. 178 Interwies and Görlitz (2013) assumes that 100 per cent of CCLME tourism income results from coastal/ocean (as opposed to inland) tourism due to the fact that the ratio of coastal/ocean to inland tourism is unavailable (see appendix F). 179 The economic impact of tourism varies greatly among the west and cental African countries. In the GCLME region, Ghana has the largest estimated tourism income, at $326.2 million (Figure 20). 180 Overall, the CCLME has a much larger economic impact from tourism than the GCLME, mainly due to the booming Moroccan tourism industry (US$ 3.3 billion) (Figure 21). 181

Mangroves, lagoons and sandy beaches are among the coastal ecosystems that are vital to the west, central and southern African tourism industries and their related national income and employment. For example, tourism accounts for approximately 900,000 jobs in the CCLME countries, of which 300,000 are in Morocco. 173 Nevertheless, this industry is vulnerable to pollution, with areas such as Dakar, Senegal, being badly affected. Further damage to marine and coastal ecosystems could considerably affect other economies where tourism is a main source of foreign exchange, such as in Cape Verde and The Gambia. 174 Both the ocean and coastal ecosystems are integral to tourism services, but lack of specific tourism data makes it difficult to quantify the extent of each ecosystem’s role in the GCLME or CCLME tourism industry. Interwies (2011) categorizes tourism as a coastal ecosystem service 175 and approximates 70 per cent of national tourism incomes,

Togo, 34 Angola, 59

Cabo Verde, 290.5 Verde,

Sierra Leone, 83

Benin, 68

Gambia, 75.3

Senegal, 6,932

Cameroon, 34

Sao Tome & Principe, 10

Guinea, 112.6

Republic of Congo, 17 Côte d’Ivoire, 77 Democratic Congo, 0.65

Nigeria, 144

Mauritania, 210 210

Liberia, 0

Guinea- Bissau,2

Equatorial Guinea, 5

Gabon, 14

Guinea, 30

Ghana, 466

Morocco, 3,302

Figure 20: Share of GCLME Total Coastal Tourism Income in US$ millions/year (based on 2009 country GDPs). Source: Interwies (2011).

Figure 21: Share of CCLME Total Coastal/Ocean Tourism Income in US$ millions/ year (based on various years); No portion of GDP was attributed to tourism in Guinea-Bissau. Source: Interwies and Görlitz (2013). 182

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