The initiative, dubbed "Sublime Cote d'Ivoire" (Magnificent Ivory Coast), was launched in May. "Our goal is to become the fifth biggest destination for tourism in Africa by 2025," Fofana said in the ministry's statement. If objectives are reached, tourism would account for 12 percent of GDP compared with 5.5 percent today, and jobs in the tourism sector would grow from 270,000, as of 2016, to 365,000. The economy today is hugely dependent on rural earnings, especially cacao and coffee.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019