Developing countries could benefit from a new International Civil Aviation Organization route development funding concept, which has been championed by the World Tourism Organisation.
ICAO, in co-operation with World Tourism Organisation (WTO-OMT), has developed a framework for schemes that develop air service through support funding of essential air routes. It covers international routes between tourism-generating and –receiving markets.
The schemes are called essential service tourism development routes (ESTDR) and will work a similar way to developed countries’ public service obligation (PSO) routes, but would be used to encourage tourism in poor countries as part of their recovery plan.
It has resulted from the World Tourism Organisation’s argument that aviation and tourism should qualify for development funding.
Speaking to Flight at the New Route Africa Conference in Casablanca, World Tourism Organisation special advisor to the secretary general Geoffrey Lipman said that ESTDR has just become effective after two years of development, although it is yet to be tested.
“Tourism is one of the areas where poor countries have a competitive advantage, but to use it they need good air services to get there and decent infrastructure to enjoy it when they arrive,” says Lipman.
He explains that money to support the routes and resultant tourism development will be provided by development agencies, such as the World Bank family, bilateral development schemes and multilateral initiatives by bodies such as the European Union.
To qualify for the funding, a country must have included tourism in its poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP). “If it’s not part of the strategy, it is of questionable value,” he says.
He says ICAO and the United Nations' World Trade Organisation (WTO) have already taken up the scheme and given it their backing, leaving the funding bodies as the next target for support. He adds that the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Airports Council International and the developing countries’ finance ministers must now also get on board.
Lipman labels aviation, tourism and development funding as individual “silos”, which have historically not been connected. “We now have to sell it to the countries themselves, outside of those silos,” he says.
VICTORIA MOORES / CASABLANCA
Source: Flight International
