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Look At Countertrade In Tourism
International tourists are now counted each year in tens of
millions, and tourism is today the largest single industry on earth.
Huge investments have been made globally in hotels catering to
foreign visitors. With the economic difficulties affecting these
countries, the problem is how to fill hotel rooms to the point where
these investments remain viable.
Many national tourism authorities are using countertrade to expand
their business opportunities. For example:
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Canadian farmers supplying barley to a U.S. customer were offered
trips to Las Vegas in exchange.
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chain of spa hotels has been constructed in Hungary by an Italian
company with partial payment in vacations and holidays at the
hotels.
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To pay for gas piped from Russia, Turkey has considered setting up
tourist parks with hotel complexes in Yalta and Baku.
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Cuba has set up a tourist enterprise, Cubanacan SA, to develop
organized tours, seaside vacations, and congresses. The hard
currency earnings will pay for the foreign expertise to increase
hotel capacity and occupancy.
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Cuba also signed contracts with certain countries to construct eight
hotels at Varadero, in exchange for sugar, tobacco and nickel.
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India has offered tourism packages on its list of exports available
for countertrade deals.
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Egypt once paid for television receivers, supplied by a Japanese
company, with tourism for Japanese nationals.
The major advantage of this form of countertrade is that it gives
these countries the opportunity to sell their tourism in Western
countries where they do not possess effective marketing access.