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The ‘Obama effect’ of a US President with African heritage, and the 2010 soccer World Cup have been credited with creating a surge of interest in Africa as a tourist destination.

The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) says Africa bucked the global trend in 2009 – it was the only continent to see a rise in the number of international tourist arrivals: up by 5 per cent.

That compared to a slump of 4 per cent in travel worldwide amid the economic crisis and the swine flu pandemic.

The head of the UNWTO, Taleb Rifai, told a tourism conference in Madrid:

“There has been a shift in the way people look at Africa. It’s now considered a serious destination for travellers from the major generating markets.”

Kenya’s tourist board says the fact that President Obama’s father was from Kenya has led to an increase in Americans visiting the country. And the African Travel and Tourism Association (ATTA) says this year’s World Cup in South Africa will have an enormous effect.

“The World Cup is certainly the most exciting thing to happen to Africa, not just southern Africa,” said the ATTA’s head, Nigel Vere Nicoll. “All Africans are very proud that it’s going to be there.”

by Andy Moreton

Check out Luxique’s selection of luxury hotels in South Africa, as well as in Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and other parts of the continent.

President Obama’s visit to Ghana in West Africa last week was a bit of a whirlwind affair, but there will always be one permanent reminder of him in the capital, Accra.

The 18-room Hotel Obama, which opened on American Independence Day, is dedicated to him, and its room names include Michelle Obama, Martin Luther King, Joe Biden and The White House.

“I called it Hotel Obama because the President represents all that is possible in bridging ethnic and racial barriers,” said the Chief Executive of Town and Country Plaza, Kwame Owusu.

Ghana is hoping to push its credentials as a holiday destination in the wake of the President’s visit. It has fine beaches, lakes, wildlife in protected areas and many castles and forts.

Although Mr Obama’s visit was brief, the Minister of Tourism, Juliana Azumah-Mensah, called it ‘a chance in a lifetime’ to show the world what Ghana had to offer. The country’s hoping to attract a million visitors a year by 2012.

by Andy Moreton

It’s not every day that hotel staff receive a $250 billion tip, but that’s what happened at the Metropole in Leeds in northern England.

Unfortunately for them, they were Zimbabwean dollars and with inflation there running at a virtually unquantifiable rate (one estimate has the percentage at 5, followed by 21 0s), the ten $25 billion bills were completely worthless and couldn’t be exchanged.

The hotel’s Deborah Heather said: “We thought we’d won the jackpot and imagined how we’d spend it. Then we realised it wouldn’t even buy a penny chew” (cheap candy popular when some of us were young).
She’s right: even a recently introduced bill, with a denomination of 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars, was worth barely 20 pence (28 cents) and halved in value every few hours.

by Andy Moreton