Mauritius will expand and upgrade its airport, following a new deal with China which will loan the Indian Ocean island US$260 million (207 million euros). China has investing heavily in oil- and mineral-rich African countries for some time, but is looking to extend its ties with the continent to smaller economies. Tourism is a major source of foreign exchange for the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, which aims to double visitor arrivals to 2 million 2015. International visitor arrivals increased by 15% in 2006 over 2007, and were up again by 3.7% from January September 2008 compared with the same period in 2007 (UNWTO figures).

Poor records of tourism activities in the country have been identified as one of variables militating against tourism development in Nigeria, according to the Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe.

"Without comprehensive tourism statistics, planning would be difficult," he said "cannot plan without statistics - and ideally a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) - provide country with information on activities.”

Runsewe said that, in a bid to meet up with the challenges, the corporation has working hard to collate statistics on inbound tourism in over 13 states plus the Abuja. He said most entries were through the airports, stressing that the NTDC has implemented an electronic border survey in order to capture inbound data and trends.