At a special roundtable event held at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary on 7 November 2024, a visiting delegation of international investors heard about Sierra Leone’s expanding tourism sector and its potential to positively impact livelihoods and economic growth in the country.
The roundtable was organised by Invest Salone, a UK funded private sector development programme and the Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator (ARIA) – a platform that aims to unlock investment in markets across the continent. It was part of a week-long exploration of investment opportunities in Sierra Leone’s infrastructure and sustainable tourism sectors.
Avril Pratt, consultant with Invest Salone opened the roundtable with an overview of the sector’s highlights saying that Sierra Leone offers a diverse array of unique and undiscovered attractions, including wildlife parks, beaches, history and culture. “The National Tourism Board has identified ecotourism, culture and nature as strategic promotional sub-sectors with the USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland and the Nordic countries as key target markets for sourcing tourists,” she continued.
She went on to discuss the positive impact of tourism on skills, livelihoods, cultural legacy and the environment, citing a study of villages at Tokeh, Baw Baw village and Number 2 which showed that tourism had led to the growth of numerous local enterprises and industries, supported the development of infrastructure, such as roads, utilities and telecommunications, and encouraged local communities to preserve their cultural legacy and environment. “By placing environmental, cultural and social sustainability at the heart of tourism development, it enables communities and the ecosystem to thrive,” she said.
Gregorios Delichristos, Dalton’s Guesthouse, Banana Island, added that tourism provided a quick solution to the problems of unemployment and skills and education: “One of the biggest challenges in Sierra Leone is the lack of formal employment. Tourism can absorb people quickly and provide skills development, especially the soft skills that are also necessary for employment outside the hospitality industry,” he explained.
Alex Kucharski, British International Investment’s (BII) ARIA Lead for West Africa, said that interest in Sierra Leone was growing among the development finance institutions (DFIs) that are ARIA members. “The DFIs taking part in this visit have over US$200 billion of assets under management. That’s a considerable amount and we want Sierra Leone to have a bigger portion of that pie. The growth potential of Sierra Leone’s tourism industry, as well as its significant selection of investment opportunities and strong development impact, could be very attractive to investors.”
About ARIA
The Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator (ARIA) is an initiative founded by BII and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, which aims to unlock investment in frontier markets across Africa. It currently operates in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Benin, DRC and Ethiopia. ARIA supports BII and FMO as well as other DFIs to increase investment in the markets of focus. It works closely with companies on the ground to enable them to become investment ready, helps build investment ecosystems, and engages governments and donors. In Sierra Leone, ARIA has a partnership with the British High Commission and has developed several investment opportunities with some in the pipeline for DFIs.
About Invest Salone
Invest Salone is a UK funded private sector development programme which works to encourage investment, generate exports, create jobs and diversify key sectors in Sierra Leone.
