111. Tourism is one of the promising drivers of growth, supported by Madagascar’s unparalleled
biodiversity. The sector is highly sensitive to political instability, but it has also tended to bounce
back quickly from shocks. The country recorded 196,000 tourist arrivals in 2013, which has not
quite attained the peak of 255,000 reached in 2008, and there is still a large growth potential:
neighboring Mauritius, located only 900 km away and whose surface area is less than 1 percent of
Madagascar, recorded almost a million tourist arrivals in 2013. Tourism offers high direct and
indirect employment opportunities, even in remote areas. Travel and tourism’s total contribution
to GDP is estimated at 15.9 percent in 2013, which is higher than the world (9.5 percent) and
Africa (8.5 percent) averages.47 Direct job creation increased from 18,600 in 2003 to 35,400 in
2013.48 The study on tourism sector (World Bank 2013) identified air transportation, infrastructure
and land allocation as the main constraints for the sector’s development. Growing insecurity and
lack of adequate health and sanitary services in tourist areas are also cited as constraints. Traffic
in rare and precious timber species, which is taking place increasingly in protected areas, will also
act as a deterrent to nature-based tourism.