Ecotourism in Madagascar - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 33

that were studied. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report (TTCI) aims
to measure the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the T&T sector in
different countries . The TTCI is composed of 14 'pillars' of travel and tourism
competitiveness. These are:
1 Policy rules and regulations;
2 Environmental sustainability;
3 Safety and security;
4 Health and hygiene;
5 Prioritization of travel and tourism;
6 Air transport infrastructure;
7 Ground transport infrastructure;
8 Tourism infrastructure;
9 ICT infrastructure;
10 Price competitiveness in the travel and tourism industry;
11 Human resources;
12 Affinity for travel and tourism;
13 Natural resources;
14 Cultural resources.
These facts and statistics have a negative impact on potential investors at the
national and international levels to finance new projects to boost the Malagasy
economy and it lowers their confidence in the country's financial practices. It
should not be hidden that in the past international investors for Madagascar were
sometimes unlucky and news of their lack of success has spread around the globe,
giving Madagascar a less than favourable reputation with investors.
The country is one of the least developed countries in the world and it does
not have large amounts to invest in tourism development, therefore it finds itself
in the same position as other African countries: it is under pressure to show its
credibility to investors as it needs their money to develop the country and move
forward. One of the activities showing the country's willingness to give more
support to investors today is the creation of the Economic Development Board of
Madagascar (EDBM) for investors in 2007 (linked directly to the Presidency),
designed to speed up necessary processes for investors (e.g. visa requirements).
One current example of this is the improvement of Madagascar's investment
climate following the revision of existing laws and procedures (e.g. the above
mentioned tourism law with its investment procedures).
Integration of the local population in tourism
development
In general, the Malagasy population shows a positive attitude and willingness to
participate in tourism development (e.g. intense participation in the development
of tourism masterplans). Seen from a tourism perspective, the Malagasy culture is
unique: initially coming from Malaysia, today it is a mixture of Asian, African,