H.E.M. Eduardo Jonatão S. Chingunji
Minister of Hotels and Tourism

Angola - 03/17/2005
You have been in office for just a few months but I am sure that since day one you had clear what your Ministry was going to be focused on: Can you describe the specific Tourism concept that you want to communicate about Angola?

I have been minister of hotels and tourism for three months exactly today, I was appointed on the 4th of December and installed on the 17th of December.
I think, since I came in, my priority was to reorganise and stabilise the ministry itself. I obviously want to focus on transparency and I am trying to create an open climate of work. We have also given courses to people we called directors in our ministry, responsible for various areas and for a long time. It looks like there never used to be a proper coordination and also relationship between the minister, the people below him and his vice-ministers. I had to create an environment that was conducive to positive work.
Since I left the united States and came to Luanda three years ago, that we have a crisis when it comes to accommodation in Luanda. Problem is that most off the investors and visitors, coming to Luanda and two other provinces have to deal with minimal conditions of infrastructure. So building new infrastructures, new hotels, became the major priority for our ministry. Secondly, what we have been saying is that there is no point building infrastructure when you do not have people trained to run these infrastructures. So we have also impact on a program where we are trying to get enough funds and scholarships to send people abroad or to get people coming from abroad to teach them. We have a special program that we have called “hotel escola”, which is basically an institution where we can train people but at the same time serve as a hotel. Almost like teaching hospitals that you find in London.
We also have been working on a master plan which should be ready for April 2205 that will be a guide for any investors willing to come in Angola and invest. It contents all the statistics needed, and is a kind of inventory of our tourist potential areas. Also it clearly explain differences between ecotourism, rural or cultural tourism. implies, this is what Our philosophy is really to work seriously on a campaign to attract investors to build hotels. Angola has 18 provinces and we are saying that if we can start whit one hotel at least in each province, it would be good.
We know according to the studies that we have done, that we have a deficiency of 3500 rooms in Luanda. So we need between 8 and 10 hotels to be able to satisfy the demands. As you know, right now, all the hotels had fully booked. The occupancy rates range reaching 99 percent.

So what is the concrete measure that you are taking to tackle this efficiency?

Well, we have been strongly campaigning in order to bring investors who can put up structures in Luanda, because that is the only way we are going to alleviate the problem, We also need other level than four or five stars hotels, which are obviously used by businessmen we should also look at the Angolans. So we encourage national and international investors to look at the three star hotels, which obviously somehow can alleviate the need of some Angolans who come from the provinces for instance. They don’t have the money to spend or they don’t want to spend that much money in accomodation. They want something between 75 and 100 USD.

Current estimates predict that more than 50% of the hospitality sector’s infrastructure needs renovating. There are 13 national parks and reserves in Angola; the most famous is Kissama National Park. However, most of the parks need to be restored. What measures; such as the Noah’s Ark Project which is now underway: (Transports animals from other southern African nations to Kissama). are currently being taken?

Well, this is quiet interesting, the national parks in our country, are not falling under our jurisdiction. They are falling under the jurisdiction of the ministry of agriculture and what we have been trying lately is to convince that it should be passed to the ministry of tourism. In the other hand, we are involved in an advance frontier project, called Kavango project, which covers 5 countries: Southern part of Angola, especially Kuando Kubango located in the deep South-east, bordering Namibia.
So it will be part of Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and part of Zambia. This is going to be some kind of huge frontier reserve. The vision is that, you would actually get in to the Angolan side and go all the way to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia or Zimbabwe, without a need of applying again for a visa. Also we have some resorts projects, hunting activities, and all kinds of things.
There is a park like that in South-Africa and I think there is also one in east Africa.

One of your main future projects is the building of a big Hotel in Luanda Island. But this project called “Sunrise project“, has not yet been aproved by the Council of Ministers. Why?

We had a lot of investors coming with a lot of ideas, the sunrise project is just one of the proposals. One of the problems we have faced, connecting to that project, is some kind of litigation problems going on between some national businessmen who were initially connected to it, and who took the case to the court. So that phase of litigation first has to be overcome. Once it will be done, what we hope for august, they will be no problem in approving the project. by the council of ministers.

Angola is one of the countries with the biggest amount of landmines in the World. Security is an important consideration for any foreigners. So, what are you doing to prove that Angola is a good market and a safe destination?

You know, just before you came in I was working at a slight show that I received from Ecotours. Ecotours is an organisation that comprises a group of Angolans and a few foreigners. They travel up and down the country, using 4 by 4 jeeps. You would be amazed on how much space is there for people to move freely, I mean free of landmines.
So there is an exaggerated notion that landmines are everywhere. People are afraid, that is the image of war. We are trying to communicate to the international audience that not every area of Angola is mined by using site groups. Also there is a landmine clearing process is going on, on a national level , and the ministry of tourism clearly knows which area are still mined.

How do you interact with other ministries and agencies to improve security issue?

There is a ministry that is responsible for that issue: The ministry of Defence is coordinating it, collaborating again with the ministry of Territorial Administration and especially a lot of international NGOs. We have the duty to, at least, approach the ministry of Defence and show them our concern. In order to convince people that Angola is safe, we have to produce evidence by footage and other visual tools within our means. Most people know that in Africa, despite everything, Angolans love to do tourism, they visit all the provinces.
Also we only promote places that we know are free mines. We do not want any casualty, just one accident, can becomes a big issue abroad

In order to recover and develop the hotel network and tourism infrastructure, You need to attract investments, the government has taken a series by preparing a package of legislation with fiscal incentives to develop the sector.
In concrete, what are the main incentives?

The major worry for investors, is how secure investment is.This is really the worry. How secure is it, and how long do they get their returns back. We have got a good example with the Alvalade Hotel which was built a few years ago and got its investment back within, I think, three years.
So for us, we know that if investors come here, because of the demanders here, they will definitely get their return back within three or four years, depending on how huge the project is. One of the incentives that attract people is the fact that all the building materials needed for the hotel is tax free. You do not pay anything, so there is no worrying about the escalation of costs. All other taxes only take place when you are operational, but during the time of building, everything which is physically proved to be connected with the building is exempted. That is another reason why it was so quick and so easy to put up the Alvalade Hotel in such a short period of time.
In many countries it becomes huge problem when you want to take your benefit out of the country and it used to be a big problem even here. Now, Legislation has been prepared in order to make it even more attractive to foreign investors. In Angola you can take your money back as long obviously as you are not trying to empty Angola of money. Basically we do not want people to think that they can just come here and take everything, but just that on a reasonable way they can take their benefits out of the country.
Our problem right now is that there is a lack of land in Luanda, because everybody just wants to build here in the heart of the city. And Angola is so huge, there are so many beautiful places where you can put up hotels, do not just concentrate them. Because Luanda is overcrowded you got traffic jams 24 hours a day, we do not talk anymore about peak hours, unless maybe on Sunday.
We also want to encourage partnership with Angolans. You come in with the money, I come up with the land. It is a win win relation.

What would be your final message to the U.S. News & World Report readers? Why should they come to Angola rather than another African country?

Angola is a virgin country. The potential is still untapped. This is one of the countries where since the sixties noting has really moved. This country has a huge potential. We have a very, very beautiful country, which has a long coast of 1400 – 1500 km, and all along our coast, beautiful beaches. If you go to South-Africa, and I really love South-Africa., but it has not as spectacular, and nice beaches as we have. We have forest, nature, we have everything that is still fresh. And as a result, We have more animals than before.For people willing to do ecotourism, culture tourism, we have so many beautiful places here.
Also I think in terms of hospitality, you find very few people who are so very, very warm like Angolans. Angolans are very tender, hospital. One of the best people you could ever meet. Just, within a few minutes you will be surprised, it is like if you have known each other for years.
In terms of personal security, Angola is really safe. If you go to all these advisory WebPages of the embassies, that has got nothing to do with reality on the ground. I know countries within Africa, which perhaps in terms of development, are more developed than Angola, but I am telling you if you look at residential areas and wherever, the amount of security that they have: electric gates, personal arms, security, armed response companies all over the city. We do not have that.
Off course, the big foreign companies have private securities but you will not find Angolans with alarm systems in their houses. Because of misery and poverty, a few people here and there, sometimes rob each other, but it is not like in some cities of certain developed countries. This is quiet secure. You can move up and down, even adventuring during the night. If something happens to you it is rare. But obviously like in many countries, you should know the places where you find a lot of crime; it really is in the suburbs. I can guaranty you that, this is one of the safest countries, and we are here to work on it.
We are also encouraging the ministry for Transport and the one of Public works to try to move on in terms of roads rehabilitation because it is one of the major problems we have to face concerning tourism industry. Even the air transport system is still weak. Moving by plane in Angola is a problem, because some airports run down.
Those problems are consequences of the war and government is doing all its best to change it.. Once everything will be done this place will take off.
I tell everybody, whoever is coming right now to invest in Angola is going to rip the benefits. The ones coming in three, four, five years, they are going to eat the bones.
This is the moment, come and enjoy it. I know and I belief that what we are creating know is going to last for a very, very long time.

Transcripition done by Inge Van Cauwenberg