JEFFERSONVILLE — An agreement has been reached between the Jeffersonville Redevelopment Commission and the Southern Indiana Tourism Bureau regarding the property where the bureau’s offices and visitor center used to be.
City attorney Les Merkley explained the situation during the commission’s meeting Wednesday with the original bureau offices and visitor center located at 305 and 315 Southern Indiana Ave.
He said the building was auctioned at a public sale, and they entered into a purchase agreement with the winning bidder.
SoIN Tourism Executive Director Jim Epperson said a title search was ordered before the start of the auction of the property, but they didn’t receive the results until the end of the auction on Dec. 12, 2023, where they saw the reversion clause.
Epperson said the deed to the property contained a reversion clause that was written in 1996 that states that when the tourism bureau leaves the property, it reverts back to the commission. He said the property was originally sold to the bureau from the commission for $1.
“It was really a protection for both organizations back then,” Epperson said about the clause.
Merkley and Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore said discussions were made and agreement was reached between the commission and bureau.
“I’m satisfied with these terms,” Moore said at the meeting.
The tourism bureau will revert the property back to the commission, which will then be sold. Around $396,000 will go toward the commission, while the bureau will receive $455,000.
“I think the portion that we’re getting recognizes the investment that we’ve made over the years, but also respects the original ownership of the redevelopment commission,” Epperson said.
He said the property will be sold to Neace Ventures, and the closing of the sale will occur by the end of April. He said he thanks the attorneys that worked on this agreement with the city and bureau.
“We had great use of that property for 27 years,” Epperson said.
In February, the bureau moved to an office in downtown Jeffersonville at 228 Spring St., Suite 106. Epperson said there has been an “automatic uptick” of foot traffic to the visitor center particularly with residents.
“When that foot traffic really starts taking off with people crossing the bridge and events on the river stage, we know it’s going to be a great location for us,” he said.
Legislators on the sectoral committee of tourism, trade, and industry were shocked to learn that Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC) procured private consultancy services for its perimeter wall fence at Shs 1.163 billion.
UWEC sits on a 72-acre piece of land in Entebbe with a mandate to manage conservation education, showcase the country’s unique wildlife and ecosystems, manage wildlife biodata bank, promote wildlife breeding, and conduct rescue, rehabilitation, and release of wildlife species, among others.
While defending their ministerial policy statement, and budget estimates for the financial year 2024/25 on Tuesday, David Musingo, UWEC’s acting executive director told the committee that they procured the services of C4D International Limited, a building and engineering firm for the wall fence construction given the complexity of land the entity sits on.
Musingo revealed that the consultancy for the perimeter wall fence was one of the three capital development projects funded under the FY 2023/24 budget at Shs 1.163 billion. The consultancy firm, C4D International Limited, is yet to finalize the bill of quantities (BoQs) before a contractor is sourced.
Musingo explained to the MPs that other capital development projects funded from the running budget include the construction of Mbale Regional Satellite Zoo, and the construction of a pier on Lake Victoria which sparked off scrutiny from the committee chairperson, Mwine Mpaka Rwamirama.
Mpaka, also the Mbarara City South Constituency MP questioned why UWEC hired a consultant for a mere wall fence without consulting the ministry of Works and Transport, an utter violation of the public service standing order, and Procurement Policy Book, 2020 issued by the ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development.
Accordingly, the standing order requires that a public officer involved in the procurement, utilization, and disposal of goods and services in the public service consult the ministry responsible before engaging in any works or related activities. The Procurement Policy Book, 2020 listed the ministry of Works as a competent authority in executing civil works and setting engineering standards across the country.
Bwamba County MP, Richard Muhumuza Gafabusa, observed that the whole process of procuring the services of the consultant was fraudulent, arguing the consultancy should have been at the initial stage of the project before funds were appropriated.
When asked to clarify the matter, high-ranking officials from UWEC’s mother ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities who included Kakula Khwirome, the acting permanent secretary, and state minister, Martin Bahinduka instead pleaded for leniency.
UWEC officials decried a funding gap of Shs 6 billion which they said has affected several of the entity’s projects such as animal food and health care; safety, and handling services, countrywide conservation education and outreach programs, staff salaries and payment to volunteers, staff uniforms, and staff medical insurance among others.
UWEC’s approved annual budget for FY 2023/24 was Shs 21.7 billion. However, at the half year, the government through the ministry of Finance released Shs 10.849 billion only to cater for wages, operations, and capital expenditure.
Overall, the entity is lobbying parliament to appropriate its Shs 46.4 billion as additional capital funding in FY 2024/25. The funds will cater for the completion of the 1st Model Satellite Centre in Mbale, the revamping of botanical gardens, and the completion of the floating restaurant on the Lake among others.
SHS 10BN FOR LION BREEDING
During their interaction, UWEC officials were also asked to defend the Shs 10 billion request to boost lion population in protected areas. Bwamba County MP Richard Gafabusa demanded a breakdown of how the money will be utilised and how many lions will be got through this breeding.
In response, acting UWEC executing director, David Musingo said for the starting stock, they will get two areas where they will distribute eight female (lionesses) and two male lions in the hope that they will mate and the lionesses become pregnant.
He assured the MPs that there is a very high probability that the lionesses will become pregnant since they are currently on a “family planning” programme.
Earlier, UWEC informed MPs that they were breeding 15 lions and that the lion population in the country has tremendously gone down from 460 to 310 lions in 2022 because of human-wildlife conflict. The bred lions are set to boost populations in Queen Elizabeth, Kidepo and Murchison Falls National Parks.
The lion population boosting proposal has however faced condemnation from wildlife scientists and conservationists on grounds that it hasn’t been proven sustainable, with some describing the move as disastrous as such lions turn out to be human-eaters and with a low survival rate in the wild.
Demand for hospitality-related services is triggering inflationary pressures in sectors critical to households. Billions in tourism also push up house prices.
New, strong inflationary pressures are expected to be generated by tourism, which is expected to set a new record this year. According to economists’ estimates, tourism in Greece is responsible for almost half of the economy’s inflation, as prices continue their upward trend despite the fall in energy costs over the last 12 months.
In particular, demand for hospitality-related services is triggering a series of chain price increases in critical household sectors such as food and housing, in a trend that is expected to continue into 2024.
“Data for 2023 shows that tourism directly accounts for about a third of inflation, as we see from categories such as ”restaurants- pastry-cafes-cafeterias-cafeterias” which has a large weighting in the price index. But if we calculate the indirect effects, the impact of tourism on prices is much higher,” an economist told Business Daily. “In the future, this effect may go up even more in the coming years or even recede,” he adds. “It depends on the context.“
While the economic benefits of tourism remain undeniable, the impact of the industry, and more specifically, of overtourism, is a concern. Pressures on the country’s infrastructure and the heavy strain on the natural environment are causing concern for many who also see demand from visitors driving up prices, weakening their own purchasing power.
The general trend on the price front is favourable, with official data showing that the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) fell significantly in 2023. From 7.3% in January it fell to 3.7% in December in a trend that masks many negative facts for households. In December prices in the food category increased by 8.9%, the second highest growth rate among the 27 EU countries after Malta, while prices of olive oil have increased by 58.5% and fruit and vegetables by 15% and 14% respectively.
A mixed picture is also expected for 2024, with demand from tourism offsetting the downward trends. According to the latest forecasts of both the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance, HICP is expected to hover around 2.6-2.8% this year. Analysts point out that “in 2024 we may see a price correction in the excesses of some products, such as olive oil, but in tourism services will continue to move upwards with a slowdown at best. There is no downside risk at all.”
Tourism will also push property prices even further upwards in a relationship that is now being quantified, according to new research. A study was carried out at the University of Evora in Portugal to determine the impact of tourism activities on house prices in 8 countries where economies are highly dependent on tourism, such as Portugal, Greece, Croatia and Iceland.
The main conclusion was that a 10% increase in real international tourism receipts, on average, increases house prices by up to 3.7%, depending on the country. If it is estimated that in 2024 in Greece the increase in arrivals will be higher than 10%, based on the leading indicators of scheduled airline seats and bookings, then property prices in the country will increase by about 3.7% due to tourism.
In the survey, the professors stress that “tourism activities are important for the development of local, regional and national economies and job creation. However, on the other hand, there is a fragile environment and social balance in tourist destinations that can easily be disturbed.” They continue: “problems can arise when the pressure on house prices is such that it creates serious social impacts in terms of affordability, quality of life for residents and displacement from their place of residence.“
Record year
The first indications for tourism in 2024 are very positive, making some talk of a new record. “Greece is heading for the highest performance of all time” for the 2024 tourist season, TUI tourism group’s Head of Communications, Aage Dunhaupt, recently told APE-MPE, pointing out that Crete, Rhodes and Kos remain top destinations for the company’s customers, which this year will start earlier than any other year in the summer season for Greece.
Asked about the mood of Germans to take a vacation amid a fiscal crisis and economic recession in their country, Mr. Dunhaupt replied that there is no reluctance or reluctance. “On the contrary“, he explained, “pre-bookings for the summer of 2024 are above the levels of 2019 (pre-pandemic)” and predicted “a good summer 2024 in the Mediterranean and especially in Greece“.