Ethiopia to host the Africa Hotel Investment Forum

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When people think of Africa, they tend to not always think of tourism and the opportunities for tourism that the vast continent offers. With so much of the media focused on the negative aspects of African life and politics, it makes sense that something like a hotel investment forum changing cities wouldn’t be seen as a big deal. However when you look at the actual reasons for it, you’ll notice that it points to good things for the future.

Initially meant to be held in Nairobi, the Forum will now be held in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Abada. The switch had to be made because there was a surge in interest from sponsors and investors which led to the realization that the current venue wasn’t large enough to fit everyone who wanted to be a part of the forum. Ethiopia has a tourism economy that is currently growing at 4.5% and will grow at around 4.8% for the next decade. This means that it is the perfect place to host a forum about increasing hospitality investment and building new hotels across the continent. This is also a good sign in terms of Africa’s tourism outlook as a whole. The sudden increase in sponsors and investors means that there is an earnest belief that economic prospects are on the rise for the continent. By taking a page from Kenya (who has a booming tourism industry), other African countries are hoping to increase both their prospects as well as those of their people.

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Fishing vessels have surprisingly large ecological footprints

While everyone is aware of the melting ice caps and the threat from rising oceans, there are other things that impact the life of sea creatures. Fishing vessels are used all around the world to fuel the booming sea-food industry. While it makes sense that these vessels would have an impact on the oceans they trawl, no one really understood how big that impact is. However, a new study from a group of researchers at the University of Exeter goes to prove that these commercial fishing vessels have a much larger impact that was originally thought.

The team of scientists found that northern gannets (a species of seabird that are the largest in the UK) drastically changed their behavior when the fishing vessels were near, showing that these large vessels clearly impact the foraging patterns and distribution of the gannets and other marine predators. Individual gannets were shown to adjust their behavior not only based on the boat, but also on whether it was actively fishing as well as what type of gear it had on board. Each vessel had an area of influence of about 22 km, much larger than previously thought.

The study was initially started because the findings are useful in terms of commercial fisheries and how much they space they need to be able to sustainably raise fish. However these findings also go to prove that seabirds and, potentially, other predators are far more in tune with the opportunities to eat that humans create.

If you’d like to read more, here is the article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140602132222.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fearth_climate%2Foceanography+%28Oceanography+News+–+ScienceDaily%29