Summary:
- Liberia launches its first-ever Tourism Authority, aiming to tap into a booming West African tourism market, led by Ghana, despite lacking roads, trained staff, and reliable internet.
- A new tourism envoy says plans will rebrand Liberia from its war-torn image into a vibrant ecotourism and cultural destination.
- From forest lodges to surf towns, local tourism providers are hopeful, but say real investment in infrastructure, policy, and training is urgently needed to turn potential into profit.
By Aria Deemie and Jake Duffy with New Narratives
PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado – On a warm Saturday afternoon, Chris Onanuga, Liberia’s newly appointed presidential envoy for tourism, mingles with young people at a recreation day in Voka Mission. Some kick a football; others seek shade beneath sprawling trees.
To Onanuga, the scene is something more than a relaxing afternoon. It’s a snapshot of the peaceful, community and nature filled lifestyle that Liberia now offers tourists, far from the images of child soldiers and bloodshed that many international tourists have come to associate with the country.
Libassa Ecolodge restaurant looks over the Atlantic coast at dusk. Nestled in Liberia’s lush coastal forest, Libassa is a pioneer in the country’s eco-tourism sector.
Onanuga hopes tourism will give jobs to some of Liberia’s restive youth like these who make up two thirds of the population but have few job opportunities.
“Tourism is more than business. It’s proof that Liberia can offer beauty, not just resilience. One flight, one farm, one fried breadfruit at a time.”
The vision, he says, is to rebrand Liberia, as West Africa’s next adventure frontier. He touts Liberia’s 560 kilometers of near unbroken sand, warm Atlantic waters, and some of the largest surfing waves in the world. Sapo National Park gives visitors an exclusive peek into forests, unique in their rare flora, fauna and wildlife. Liberia’s 16 different tribes have unique history and culture, shown in languages, dance, and cuisine.
It’s a decade since the government of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf first declared tourism a “priority sector”. A 2016 national export strategy outlined a six-phase roadmap, beginning with youth skills development and ending with the creation of a national tourism authority. A dedicated hospitality school in Robertsport, new vocational training tracks, and community tourism pilot sites in the original plan were shelved by the Weah administration.
President Joseph Boakai, Sirleaf’s vice president, who took over the presidency in 2024, reenergized the plan launching the Tourism Authority in June after pushing a bill through the Legislature’s to establish it as an independent entity separate from the Ministry of Information.
Onanuga is now busy shepherding the Authority through a 90 day timeline to become fully operational – setting up offices, recruiting staff, and delivering Liberia’s first standalone tourism strategy. The government hopes a rebooted tourism industry will help it drive economic growth and increase government revenue to the $1 billion mark. The 90-day period will end in September. The program forms part of the government’s development agenda known by the acronym ARREST. It plans to develop 15 eco-tourism sites including Nimba Reserve, Sapo National Park, Robertsport. It aims to generate a 10 percent rise in tourist traffic.
Onanuga talks with obvious enthusiasm. He looks to Liberia’s near neighbor Ghana which has built a tourism industry that generated $US4.8 billion in 2024, driven by 1.3 million arrivals according to the Ghanaian government’s Tourism Report. Many of those came from the nation’s push to invite Africa’s diaspora – many of whom were transported to the Americas under enslavement – to visit the country. Onanuga hopes Liberia – with its close connection to the United States and the Caribbean nations from where the freed founders came – can copy Ghana’s success.
“We’re not just selling destinations. We’re selling Liberia’s cuisine, heritage, and identity,” he says. “From Barbadian breadfruit to Nigerian spices, our food tells our story. And our diaspora is already investing: in farms, in homes, in futures.”
The government has introduced an electronic visa system to ease entry for international travelers. Airport upgrades are underway to modernize infrastructure and expand capacity. Improving access to key sites like Sapo National Park is considered a priority, but so far, no public timelines or road project details have been released.
Onanuga’s team is also working on legal reforms to regulate the sector, including laws, enforcement mechanisms, and accountability tools. After laying that foundation, the Authority plans to roll out promotional campaigns targeting both domestic and global audiences.
“Content creators, bloggers, and influencers are crucial,” said Onanuga. Recent partnerships between Liberian embassies and influencers signal a growing interest in branding the country as a tourist hotspot.
Photo: Second Chance Chimpanzee Rescue Liberia
Conservation as a Draw
In conservation efforts, the Second Chance Chimpanzee Rescue Liberia, a local organization devoted to rescuing chimpanzees and other wildlife, is finalizing an agreement with the Tourism Authority, backed by the National Public Health Institute—to develop a formal visitor program.
“This program will prioritize chimpanzee welfare while providing educational experiences for tourists and locals alike,” says Wendy Higgins, with the Humane World for Animals. Plans include a designated viewing platform and awareness sessions aimed at ending the illegal bushmeat trade.
But major obstacles remain. Critics warn that without solid infrastructure, trained personnel, and a strategic roadmap, the new tourism authority risks becoming just another good idea that ends up shelved.
“Tourists don’t walk on policy,” says Togar Gayewea McIntosh, foreign minister under the Johnson Sirleaf government and a former vice president of Economic Community of West African States, the regional economic bloc. While he applauds President Boakai’s renewed focus on tourism he urges a more strategic approach. “They walk on roads. They fly into airstrips. They eat in hotels. They dance with our people. Until we build those things, tourism is just a dream.”
During the Weah years, McIntosh consulted on a tourism framework but he broke from the government and became critical of what he says was the administration’s neglect of tourism opportunities.
“We were supposed to train the guides, build the community programs, integrate youth, create local content, then set up the Authority to coordinate it all. But we’ve flipped the order,” he says of the Boakai government plans. “You can’t say, ‘Let’s set this thing up and then define its function.’ You must first conduct deep sector analysis, clarify the mandate, map the potentials, and only then create the institution to manage them.”
McIntosh says the plan from the Sirleaf administration was to identify tourism sites, beaches, waterfalls, wildlife – and build the infrastructure to support them: roads, hotels, cultural programming, trained guides.
“Development economists talk about tourism as an economic driver because it activates entire chains of enterprise,” he says. “But you need a five-year plan, trained personnel, and a clear roadmap — not just one car, one office, and a press release.”
Tourism Envoy Pushes Back on Critics, Emphasizing Long-Term Vision
Onanuga says such criticism is misplaced.
“Tourism has to start somewhere,” he says. “You don’t wait for perfection before beginning. We’re building the structure—getting offices, hiring technicians, securing transport, training people. You start with the basics: sensitization, orientation, capacity-building.”
He describes the early phase as foundational: “It’s not just about branding Liberia, it’s about teaching Liberians how to preserve our culture, improve hospitality, protect biodiversity, and present what we have to the world.”
Onanuga says the Authority is prioritizing both immediate domestic engagement and long-term planning. “We’re asking: What kind of tourism are we running? Ecotourism? Culinary tourism? Cultural heritage? Gastronomy encompasses our food, dances, beliefs. That’s where our identity lives.”
As ambitious as the renewed tourism agenda is, it’s facing headwinds from changing geopolitics. U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development has dealt a huge blow to Liberia’s economy directly – from $300 million ended projects – and indirectly in lost jobs. U.S.A.I.D. had directly employed 30 Americans and 70 Liberians who were regular patrons of tourism businesses. But the cuts also ended another 490 jobs at implementing partners, according to data provided by Liberia International NGOs Forum.
Experts say with those well-paying jobs gone it will be harder to generate tourism dollars in the short term at least.
Rudolph Antoune, co owner of Libassa Ecolodge and Warkolor Jungle Eco Lodge, sits on the porch of Libassa, overlooking the eco pools.
“Those jobs mattered,” says Rudolph Antoune, co-owner of Libassa Ecolodge, Liberia’s leading eco-lodge, sitting on a beach at Marshall, Margibi County—30 minutes from the Robertsfield International Airport and from Monrovia. “USAID staff lived here. They bought food, paid rent, hired drivers. That money used to circulate. Now it’s vanished.”
Rudolph founded Libassa with his French wife in 2012. He was born in Liberia but fled during the civil war and later returned to rebuild his family’s business. The pair has helped pioneer Liberia’s ecotourism sector. The lodge has 20 private huts providing a wildlife sanctuary, natural pools, a restaurant, and guided nature experiences. Nightly rates start at $125.
A 2022 grant from the grant from the U.S.A.I.D. Trade Hub of $262,000 helped them expand their facilities and open Wackolla Eco-Lodge a sister property located in Margibi. The lodges gave jobs to more than 50 Liberians.
Antoune called on Liberians to take advantage of their own tourism opportunities to help protect the businesses during this downturn. He urged them to come all year and not just think of it as something they do during the Christmas holiday period.
Philip Banini, Robertsport surfer and guesthouse owner, has watched the sector struggle to survive Ebola and COVID-19.
In the quiet surf town of Robertsport, on Liberia’s western coast, lifelong resident Philip Banini runs a modest guesthouse overlooking a wide, curling wave.
“I’ve been surfing since 2010,” says Banini, who was 22 when he first took to the waves. Now 32, he’s one of the original members of Robertsport’s small but determined surf community. Like many Liberians, Banini had never seen a surfboard before the end of the civil war, until Alfred Lomax, Liberia’s first surfer introduced the sport to local youth.
Banini was hooked. But surfing quickly became more than a pastime. In 2019, he launched Philip’s Guesthouse, catering to surfers and eco-tourists.
Today, the guesthouse has four rooms offering budget lodging from around $30 to $40 per night. Now a stop on the African Surf Tour, Robertsport draws competitors from Senegal, Cape Verde, Ghana, and Angola. But there are big challenges. The three-hour drive from Monrovia includes long, unpaved stretches scarred by potholes and bumps. He saw about 40 tourists in the last dry season. By June 2025, Banini hosted just one guest.
He is excited by the Boakai government’s plans but says that fixing that road will be an early test of whether the government is serious. “If the government would invest in roads and support surf tourism, Robertsport could thrive,” he says. “Surfing brings people from all over the world. We just need the support.”
For Banini, the stakes aren’t abstract. “When tourists come, the whole town eats. When they don’t, we all feel it.”
Sapo National Park is another site that is expected to be a key tourist destination. Liberia is home to the largest remaining stretch of the Upper Guinean Forest, a biodiversity hotspot teeming with endangered species. But that forest is shrinking fast, squeezed by logging, mining, and rural dwellers living in poverty and destroying the forest biodiversity in a bid to survive.
Government officials say tourism offers a strong opportunity to give those people alternative sources of livelihood so they don’t hunt endangered wildlife or cut down trees to make charcoal or farms. If they have a reason to protect the forests they will also be less likely to agree to logging and mining deals that threaten the forests.
Lush rainforest inside Sapo National Park, Liberia’s largest protected area and a key biodiversity hotspot. Photo: NVOff
The park has struggled to attract consistent support for ecotourism. Earlier community-based efforts collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rebuilding them, says Annika Hillars, a conservation biologist and adviser to the Liberia Forest Sector Project will take far more than plans on paper.
“This isn’t about parachuting in foreign tourists and calling it success,” says Hillars. “It has to be built by Liberians, for Liberians. Otherwise, it’s just another paper promise.We’ve got people living around the park who need to eat. And we’ve got species that don’t exist anywhere else. That’s the challenge: preservation versus survival.”
The Tourism Authority’s Onanuga says he is undeterred by the cuts to U.S. aid. “With or without donor funding, we must exist. Tourism is not a government-only venture. It’s a collective movement involving private citizens, local communities, and the diaspora.”
Ultimately, Onanuga says the difference this time is action, not talk. “We’ve been talking about tourism for decades. Now we have an Authority. We’ve moved from theory to practice.”
Still, Onanunga warns, the path forward must be carefully managed. “We need strong regulations for mining, for logging, for farming,” he said. “Tourism can coexist with conservation and industry, but only if we have the political will.”
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives. Funding was provided by the American Jewish World Service. The donor had no say in the story’s content.
