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Angola rising: tourism is next
I spent last week in Portugal's Azores, absorbing the rhythms of daily life on Flores, Europe's westernmost island. An unexpected discovery was the ongoing focus on Angola in the Portuguese media. Evidence of the rise of Angola as an economic power is everywhere.
First off, Portuguese people are moving to the former Portuguese colony in droves. Back in 2010 there was an interesting article by François Musseau in the French newspaper Libération about Angola's magnetic appeal to skilled Portuguese workers. Musseau's article points out that skilled Portuguese workers can make three times as much money in Angola than in Portugal. While life in Angola might not always be easy, Musseau suggests, the payoff in terms of salary and career development is high. More recently, a BBC article from this past December also documents the Portuguese exodus to Angola.
The flow of workers doesn't appear to be leveling off. The current issue of newsweekly Visão features an article on superior economic environments for skilled workers hoping to escape Portugal's economic crisis. Angola is one of a handful of countries listed - and the only one of the bunch in Africa - next to rich countries like Germany, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.
"The future starts here," says the billboard of an Angolan bank, Banco BAI, at a prime spot at Lisbon's international airport. This statement appears to be true for Angola in many ways. A number of different stories over the last few months have observed that Angolan investors are busy buying up Portugal's businesses and newly privatized state assets in a postcolonial reversal.
This is all particularly remarkable given Angola's recent history. The country suffered through a truly horrific civil war from 1975 until 2002. Ten years ago Angola was just emerging from the rubble. This article on Angola in 2002 describes an extremely impoverished, shellshocked country limping to normalcy.
While most Angolans remain very poor today, oil and diamonds have generated incredible wealth. A domestic middle class is finding its feet. Tourism will surely follow the emergence of a consumer class. And, in point of fact, Angola's tourism boom has already begun. To give one example, the current issue of Angolan business magazine Rumo reports that over 300 new hotel rooms will open in March in the northwestern province of Uíge.
More decisive evidence can be glimpsed in the March issue of Up, TAP Portugal's in-flight magazine. The issue is devoted to Angola with a collection of features spanning two dozen pages. There is an exciting hotel primer, which includes an architectural classic in Lobito's Hotel Terminus as well as the very slick Epic Sana in Luanda.
At the heart of the themed issue is a dossier titled "10 Angola Basics." Within, beautiful images are paired with scores of exciting destinations: the city of Benguela; the beaches of Restinga, Ilha do Mussulo, and Lobito; national parks in Bengo, Cunene, and Malange; and the rainforests of Cabinda. Aesthetically very striking, the dossier of articles serves as an irresistible catalog of a country in dramatic flux. With a growing middle class and an increasing number of vacation-ready foreign workers living in the country, it is clear that that Angola's tourism potential has just barely been tapped.
While most Angolans remain very poor today, oil and diamonds have generated incredible wealth. A domestic middle class is finding its feet. Tourism will surely follow the emergence of a consumer class. And, in point of fact, Angola's tourism boom has already begun. To give one example, the current issue of Angolan business magazine Rumo reports that over 300 new hotel rooms will open in March in the northwestern province of Uíge.
More decisive evidence can be glimpsed in the March issue of Up, TAP Portugal's in-flight magazine. The issue is devoted to Angola with a collection of features spanning two dozen pages. There is an exciting hotel primer, which includes an architectural classic in Lobito's Hotel Terminus as well as the very slick Epic Sana in Luanda.
At the heart of the themed issue is a dossier titled "10 Angola Basics." Within, beautiful images are paired with scores of exciting destinations: the city of Benguela; the beaches of Restinga, Ilha do Mussulo, and Lobito; national parks in Bengo, Cunene, and Malange; and the rainforests of Cabinda. Aesthetically very striking, the dossier of articles serves as an irresistible catalog of a country in dramatic flux. With a growing middle class and an increasing number of vacation-ready foreign workers living in the country, it is clear that that Angola's tourism potential has just barely been tapped.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BeenHere4Years Mar 5th 2012 3:17PM
You sir, clearly have never been to Angola. Never gone through the visa process, never been to Luanda, never been hassled by cops and crippled by bureaucracy at every turn. Surely, eventually, some day there will be tourism in Angola. Look at Mike Stead's Brandt publication, but anytime soon. No, not gonna happen.
Tourism is next? How about repairing Luanda's roads? How about bringing down the cost of living for the average Angolan, how about returning to being a net exporter of food, how about paving the road to the port, the heart of this import economy, how about having a functioning system of land line telephony network, how about not dumping raw sewage and gray water directly into the bay pictured above, how about a stable electrical grid? Need I go on?
Oh that, and there is effectively no middle class to speak of.
Alan Mar 5th 2012 5:32PM
Wholeheartedly concur. Spent 2 weeks in Luanda and Soyo for a cost-of-living assignment last year. Luanda is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates/foreign workers. Between touring a mid-quality 3BR expatriate compound apartment that cost $10,000 USD/month, eating a $30 club sandwich at a dingy hotel and taking in the traffic and broken infrastructure...tourism? Are you kidding?
Afrikita Mar 5th 2012 4:45PM
What a pointless blog. You have basically been seduced by the glossy advertising (which incidently is mostly done by the President's own children) without even considering the reality of Angola.
Yes, there are nice beaches, stunning mountain vistas and dense forests.
But the landmines, polluted water and weak infrastructure rather take the gloss away.
The hotels are poor quality and staff are poorly trained. Those that are half decent cost a bomb - it is the most expensive place in the world (officially) and there is no such thing as value for money.
Beyond the fact you don't want to be a tourist there, for Angoalns, the country is dictatorship where 1/2 people are in desperate poverty due to squandering of ample resources and poor management of basic services.
The Portuguese are only piling in because they have nowhere else to go and they are vaguely useful there because of the shared language and skills shortages. But they are doing so while closing a blind eye to all the corruption and blatant abuse of human rights.