May 15, 2013

Pacific Islands: Pension Funds Eye Regional Markets ^Reply

Pacific Islands nations’ pension funds are investing in the region

Reposted from Islands Business
By Dionisia Tabureguci

An offshore investment made by pension funds in the Pacific does not only have to mean diversifying to the more developed Western or Asian economies. PNG’s NASFUND and Fiji’s FNPF are setting a new trend.

There are opportunities right here in the region, and one was witnessed last month in Papua New Guinea, where the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) officially announced its purchase of 40 percent of the partly state-owned BeMobile PNG Ltd, a company specialising in the provision of mobile telephone services. It reportedly bought that slice for Kina 189 million (F$147 million), a big development in itself for a pension fund that not too long ago was instructed to recall most of its offshore investments as an emergency response for drying foreign exchange reserves. More…

May 7, 2013

Mandalay to build 20 hotels providing over 1400 rooms ^Reply

by Brian C. McMahon • Myanmar (Burma) News • Tags: ASEAN, Burma, hotels, Mandalay, Myanmar, Rooms, tourism, tourist

Mandalay Hill Resort Hotel

Reposted from Eleven Myanmar

Twenty hotels providing over 1,400 rooms will be built in Mandalay to meet growing demands for hotel rooms, according to Mandalay Region’s Hotels and Tourism Department.

“The number of tourist arrivals kept increasing in Mandalay over the years, but we never have any hotel shortages before. At present, about 20 hotels are being built in Mandalay with permission from the authorities,” said Myo Myint, head of hotels and tourism department (Mandalay Region).

He said the rise of hotel industry in Mandalay is due to the relaxation of restrictions on hotel construction licenses and a growing interest of businessmen in the hotel industry. More…

May 2, 2013

Guesthouse potential thrusts Maldives mid-market tourism into political fray ^Reply

by awrleopardcapital • Maldives News • Tags: maldives, tourism

Reposted from Minivan News

By Neil Merrett

Since the inception of Maldives tourism over 40 years ago, the country has seen the development of more than 100 islands into exclusive resorts which – by focusing on secluded luxury – are almost entirely cut off from local laws and politics.

The potential for expanding mid-market tourism in the Maldives through the “niche” guesthouse segment may emerge as an early election issue after senior opposition and government figures clashed over how best the country’s inhabited islands can profit from visitors.

While the present government has boasted of nearly doubling the number guesthouse business since coming to power in February last year, the country’s opposition unveiled plans to address what it called a “total disconnect” between the lucrative island resort model and local people. More…

April 30, 2013

Fiji: Hotel Group Eyes $3M Facelift ^Reply

by John Enos • Fiji News • Tags: Fiji, hospitality, hotels, Pacific Islands, property, resorts, tourism

Fiji’s iconic Tokatoka Resort Hotel is slated for a $3 million upgrade

Reposted from The Fiji Times Online
By Felix Chaudhury

The Warwick International Hotel Group has earmarked $3million for a major facelift of the Tokatoka Resort Hotel in a bid to rehabilitate the renowned property back to its former glory.

Along with a major facelift to rooms at the popular retreat, plans were also in the pipeline for upgrades to existing conference facilities and the construction of a new convention centre in the near future. More…

April 24, 2013

Papua New Guinea Gives Fiji Priority ^Reply

by John Enos • Fiji News • Tags: Agriculture, Fiji, international trade, investment, Liquid Natural Gas, manufacturing, Papua New Guinea, tourism

Fiji and PNG recently signed an agreement to boost trade and investment in both their economies

Reposted from Fiji Broadcasting Corporation
By Mika Loga

Papua New Guinea’s Trade Minister Richard Maru has reaffirmed his government’s commitment to Fijian businesses wanting to set up in the country.

Maru says they want Fiji to assist PNG in developing its agriculture, manufacturing and tourism sectors. He says PNG’s GDP is set to grow in the next few years when the country starts selling liquid natural gas overseas. More…

April 23, 2013

Cape Verde and Mozambique are Two of the Most Attractive Destinations for Investment in Africa ^Reply

by John Enos • Africa News • Tags: Africa, Cape Verde, commodities, IT, Mining, Mozambique, oilagriculture, telecommunications, tourism

Cape Verde and Mozambique are increasingly attracting FDI

Reposted from MacauHub

Cape Verde and Mozambique are two of the most attractive destinations for foreign investment in Africa in 2013, according to a document published in Lille by French consultancy StrategiCo.

In the “Risks in Africa 2013” report to which Macauhub had access, the consultancy noted a “change in perception” of foreign investors in relation to Africa, due to average growth of 4.8 percent this year, above the world average of 25 percent, according to the IMF. Figures from the World Bank showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) would rise 57 percent in two years to US$48.7 billion in 2014, it said. More…

April 18, 2013

Haiti – Tourism : Prospection, promotion, acquisition, in the tourism sector ^Reply

by John Conway Boyd • Haiti News • Tags: El Rancho hotel, Haiti, Ministry of Tourism, tourism

Reposted from Haitilibre.com

Tuesday Stéphanie Villedrouin conducted a courtesy visit to the Habitation Leclerc (Park Martissant) ; Saturday and Sunday Canadian journalists came to produce special reports on the North Destination ; The Hotel El Rancho, acquires the Hotel Villa Creole ; Under the partnership agreement in promotion of tourism package, signed between the Ministry of Tourism and the Canadian tour operator, a group of journalists who stayed in Haiti since April 10 complete its promotion tour on Wednesday 17th April. More…

April 17, 2013

With ASEAN Integration on the Horizon, Cambodia Coaxes Investors ^Reply

by John Enos • Cambodia News • Tags: ASEAN, automotive, Banking, Cambodia, Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX), Cassava, consumer goods, garments, Infrastructure, light manufacturing, rice, rubber, Textiles, tourism

Cambodia’s economic outlook is bright due to its steady GDP growth, low-cost labor, and upcoming integration into ASEAN’s single market

By John Enos

As the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) prepares for its single-market Economic Community in 2015, Cambodia is poised to benefit tremendously from this unification. With President Barack Obama in attendance, Cambodia played host to the 2012 ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in November. The most salient topic was the upcoming regional economic integration and how it will stimulate new foreign investment by removing tariffs, creating Free Trade Areas (FTAs), and forging pivotal transportation links both within ASEAN and in hegemonic China.

Cambodia, as an emerging low-cost manufacturing hub with tourism appeal, a stable government, and a crescent consumer class, will prosper from this ASEAN unification. The Kingdom’s strategic location and recurrent economic durability – 7% GDP growth is expected for 2013, in line with previous years – has propelled foreign direct investment (FDI), which increased by 44% last year to reach US $1.3 billion. Hun Sen, the country’s Prime Minister, believes that Cambodia will transition from a low-income country to a lower-middle-income country by the end of this year as classified by the World Bank.

This article is an excerpt from Leopard Asia Frontier Fund’s March 2013 newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. More…

April 11, 2013

Visit Beautiful Haiti? Stephanie Villedrouin Pushes for Tourism ^Reply

by John Conway Boyd • Haiti News • Tags: Haiti, Stephanie B. Villedrouin, tourism

Reposted from The Daily Beast
By Rashmee Roshan Lall

An industrious tourism tsar makes a very hard sell.

“It’s a package,” says Haiti’s glamorous young tourism minister, Stephanie B. Villedrouin, good-naturedly referring to the undeniable and politically incorrect truth that her good looks help with a hideously difficult job. More…

March 7, 2013