Angolan tourism industry nets billions

Luanda – Revenue from the Angolan national tourism industry reached just over US$6.7 billion between 2004 and 2006, reads a report on the country's hotels and tourism sector, released on Tuesday. According to the report, the revenue relates to the areas of hotels, restaurants and similar establishments, plus travel agents.

The director of the Office of Studies, Planning and Statistics of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, Rosa Cruz, says these figures show the development of the national tourism industry over the last three years, and promise an even greater contribution to the national economy in coming years.

The report was released at a recent planning session held in the Angolan capital. The event had the goal of reinforcing technical and professional capacities of those officials in the Department of Studies and provincial offices who are working in the domain of tourism statistics in the country. In addition, there was also debate around the need for a new statistic database that is representative of the hotels and tourism market. The outcome of that debate is still awaited.