The
Quest to Apply New Varnish To Liberia’s
Image
A View of Post-War Liberia
Liberia
Travel and Life Magazine
Monrovia,
Liberia - It’s difficult to look at Liberia
Travel and Life magazine and not be intrigued
by the idea of touring Monrovia and the breadth
of this country. It’s a glossy magazine
with alluring photos of eye-catching models
in African-influenced fashions, captivating
visions of pristine beaches and close ups of
bright “country cloth,” the colorful
fabric that is woven in Liberia. The magazine
celebrates the wide array of goods sold at the
busy marketplaces in the city, the rolling mountains
of the country’s Nimba region and the stunning
waves along the Atlantic at Robertsport, an
area gaining attention as a world-class surfing
destination.
It
is a magazine that has taken on — in its
nearly three-year lifespan — a task to
which its owners and a growing number of business
leaders here are fervently committing themselves:
The development of Liberia’s image as a
destination ripe for tourism, with its own blend
of charm, fascination and magnificence.
It is not the simplest prospect, to say the
least. More than anything, Liberia’s reputation
in recent years has been shaped by images of
bloody civil war, an exodus of capital and brain
power coupled with a decrepit infrastructure
and a level of poverty that would rival the
poorest Third World quarter. America’s
State Department, in its travel warnings, urges
United States citizens to “plan proposed
travel to Liberia carefully and to exercise
caution,” adding that “basic services
(e.g., public power, water and sewage, landline
phones) are either limited or unavailable.”
In short, it is hardly the place one might readily
associate with, say, luxurious spas, stylish
restaurants or trend-setting fashions.
Hesta
Baker Pearson
And yet, presenting that image is precisely
the aim of many here, most notably Hesta Baker-Pearson,
the publisher of Liberia Travel and Life. “For
the outside world, it’s important that
the image of Liberia be changed. I want the
world to see what we have here; that there’s
more here than war,” Ms. Baker-Pearson
said. Liberia, she said, is a country that for
nearly two decades “experienced so much
in terms of war, poverty and changes in government.
I’m sure to many it looked like a country
that would never stopped fighting. The country
began to develop a highly negative reputation
around the world. Many Liberians began to lose
hope for our country, like change would never
come.”
After
nearly 15 years of civil war, conditions did
indeed begin to settle down. And Ms. Baker-Pearson,
who was born here but moved to Texas after the
1980 coup that toppled the Liberian government,
made the decision to return to her homeland
with her family. She decided that she would
use her experiences working for newspapers and
business publications in Texas and Atlanta to
help create and highlight an enhanced image
of Liberia. And so, her magazine presents a
vivid picture of a handsome, picturesque and
quaint Liberia, with fashion photo shoots at
beaches and in forests. Even the magazine’s
ads reflect an upbeat image of travel, art and
fashion. The magazine carries ads from Brussels
Airlines, Ecobank and local hotels and clothing
boutiques sandwiched between articles about
“11 Men of Style” in Liberia, the
country’s pigmy hippos and a guide to dining
in Liberia. The magazine is doing well, she
said, “we’re certainly not in the
red.” In fact, her company, Baker Pearson
Communications Inc., recently started a new
publication: Business Liberia Magazine.
“People need to see Africa, the real Africa,
for what it really is,” Mr. Baker-Pearson
said. “There is beauty here, there is fashion
here and there is culture here. It’s important
for us to feel pride in ourselves and it’s
important for the outside world to look at us
as a continent that is part of the 21st Century.”
Others, too, insist that Liberia is gradually,
but steadily, developing its tourism infrastructure.
“I think there is certainly reason for
optimism about the outlook of the tourism industry
here,” said Ronald Stilting, the general
manager of the RLJ Kendeja Resort and Villas
and the president of the recently-formed Tourism
Association of Liberia. “You see development
and progress happening here now that makes it
clear that the country is heading in the right
direction in terms of tourism. If things continue
the way they are going now, Liberia can become
a strong destination for tourism and for West
African conference travel.”
As evidence, Mr. Stilting points to the development
of two hotel projects in the coming year or
so, most notably the renovation of the once-elegant
Ducor Hotel on the top of Monrovia’s Broad
Street. The Ducor is being refurbished by the
LAFICO, the Libyan Arabian Foreign Investment
Company (the hotel was once a showplace of Liberia
but was ransacked and looted by rebels during
the way). Another soon-to-be completed project
is the opening of a hotel adjacent to the Samuel
K. Dow Stadium. They join a number of hotels
that have opened in the last three or four years,
including the Royal Hotel, the Cape Hotel, the
Mamba Point Hotel and Mr. Stilting’s own
RLJ, the upscale property opened by the company
operated by Robert L. Johnson, the American
businessman. “And we certainly expect others
to develop,” Mr. Stilting said.
Menipakei
Dumoe
It’s also now easier for tourism to develop,
Mr. Stilting and others here insist, because
of the turnaround at the airport, which for
years sat in disrepair and even shut down for
a while. Now, Monrovia’s Roberts International
Airport, with its small, bare-bones terminal,
is served by several airlines, including Brussels
Airlines, Kenya Airways, Virgin Nigeria, Ethiopia
Airlines, Royal Air Maroc and other regional
carriers. And they provide vital links for business
travelers and others to get here from Europe,
the Middle East and North America.
“Liberia
is opening up and it has a lot to offer that
people simply don’t know about,” said
Menipakei Dumoe, the founder and chief executive
of Wow Liberia, a company that offers tour packages
that include Monrovia and Liberia’s landmark
regions. “We have incredible rain forests
here, beautiful hiking destinations, we have
the Nimba Mountain, which is offer a breathtaking
view of Liberia, Guinea and the Ivory Coast.
“
Mr. Dumoe added that, despite the years of civil
conflict, Liberia is in need of rediscovery
by international travelers. “It’s
important for people to become acquainted with
the real Liberia,” he said. “They
don’t know about the party atmosphere here.
Liberians are a hospitable and fun loving people
with a rich musical tradition. There is so much
here. We just have to get the word out.”
By
Jonathan P. Hicks
