In Antigua and Barbuda, La Campagne Tropicana Rainforest and Beach Resort plans to establish the first African Tourism Free Trade Zone dedicated to promoting Africa to the rest of the globe.
This historic resort project comes nearly four decades after La Campagne, founded by Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, debuted on the Nigerian scene at the Ikegun Village in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, where it demonstrated the resilience and power of Akinboboye’s audacious dream and vision to take the world by storm.
According to Akinboboye, the resort project will be built on a 100-hectare plot of land in Willoughby Bay Saint Philip, one of the island’s most popular and commercially successful bays.
“The project is a step toward bringing Africa to the rest of the world; now is the time for us to reach out to our brothers in the Diaspora.” To communicate with people all around Africa, from the Diaspora to the Caribbean to Americans, the United States of America, and, of course, Brazil.
“It would be the world’s first African Tourism Free Trade Zone, where anyone could come and experience Africa as a stepping stone to connecting with the continent.” “The entire continent of Africa will be represented,” he stated, adding, “from the West, South, East, North, and Central Africa.”
Akinboboye elaborated on the proposal, saying, “It is to give an opportunity to people of African descent and lovers of Africa all over the world to come to a safe Africa where all the cultures can be showcased to the world.” Where the world and all children of African origin born in the Diaspora can come to learn about Yata, Camp Africa, and get connected to Africa before moving on to the continent.”
According to Akinboboye’s depiction, this is a large project that will not be easy to develop; nonetheless, he stated that he is ready and prepared for it, having done it for about 40 years.
“We’ll go about it in stages.” The first phase will be practically immediate, occurring within the next 90 days. We’ve been doing this for nearly 40 years, so we know how to tweak it.
“We are presenting two things to the world: we are presenting African architecture, structure, and culture to the world.” The culture cannot wait, so we will begin with the presentation of the culture as we create the framework.”
“The structure will emerge as we build the culture, so we will begin with African destination weddings in Antigua.” We will bring amazing weddings to Antigua.
”Then we’ll move to some makeshift facilities that will take care of day visitors (daycation), then we’ll start building accommodations, and all of this will happen at the same time, keeping in mind that it’s a 100 acre of land.”
Source : Tribune Online