Oumar Cissé once guided tours to Djenné, an ancient and legendary town in central Mali, famous for its imposing banco mosque, but he now earns his living as best he can by driving an old motorcycle taxi in Bamako.
Mali's once-thriving tourism sector has dried up in recent years after an authoritarian junta came to power following two coups successive in 2020 and 2021, and while jihadists linked to Al-qaeda were carrying out a campaign of attacks.
"Under my nails, it is no longer the sacred land of Djenné, but the grease of the engine", Oumar Cissé told AFP, overcome by nostalgia for his life in the past. Cissé left when the security situation deteriorated in the city, classified as UNESCO World Heritage and housing it great mosque of Djenné, the largest banco structure in the world.
He now focuses on feeding his children, hoping they will remember what their father once was "a guide, a man of culture".
"I could talk to you for three hours about family lines, mosque minarets and why banco walls never collapse in the rain", he told AFP. "The tourists listened to me with their eyes wide open, they wrote everything down in their little notebooks", he added.
Fallen into disgrace
Since 2012, the Mali is faced with a serious security crisis, fueled not only by attacks by jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda, but also by groups affiliated with the Islamic State, as well as by rebel groups and criminal networks.
The country, which has four UNESCO World Heritage sites, has long been a major destination for lovers of west African culture, before gradually falling into disuse among foreign tourists.
These sites range from the historic city of Timbuktu at the banco tomb of Askia in Gao, which UNESCO describes as "testifying to power and riches" of an empire that prospered in the 15th and 16th centuries thanks to the control of trans-Saharan trade.
However, tourists have deserted UNESCO sites and many other emblematic places for more than ten years.
Security crisis
"Westerners came to visit Timbuktu and the dunes. Arab princes came to hunt the bustard, first obtained authorizations and hired guides. Today there is nothing left, said Sidy Keita, director of Mali Tourisme, the national tourism promotion agency.
The security crisis has resulted "the abandonment of destinations, the closure of certain tourist establishments and the destruction of others, as well as the dismissal or technical unemployment of staff", according to the Mali Tourisme website.
Moreover, "many hotels have closed due to lack of guests. Worse still, the owners are in debt, a member of the Malian Association of Hoteliers.
According to Mali Tourisme, between 200,000 and 300,000 tourists visited Mali each year during its tourist peak, generating around 120 billion CFA francs ($215 million) in annual revenue.
The sector, which previously represented nearly 3% of GDP, now represents only around 1%, Malian Tourism Minister Mamou Daffé declared on public television in July.
Local tourists
In recent years, Mali has tried to revive its tourism industry by turning to domestic tourism. Programs have encouraged civil servants and the general public to discover their own country, with subsidized tours in Bamako and the regions.
In December, foreign tourists were able to visit Timbuktu for the first time in ten years, after jihadists made the city too dangerous. They came on the occasion of the Mali Cultural and Artistic Biennale, organized in the city.
"Strict security protocols were in place, with all foreigners having to be escorted by police", said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, present during the biennial.
The private airline Sky Mali said it transported nearly 1,000 passengers to Timbuktu during the event, aboard 12 scheduled flights and two additional charter flights, shortly after Western embassies called on their nationals to leave Mali due to a fuel blockade imposed by jihadists.
Alliance of Sahel States
According to Keita, director of Mali Tourisme, around 100 Russian tourists visited Timbuktu during the biennial. "Hope is reborn", he said, adding that "it’s a new clientele. We hope that there will be more, that it will be the revival of tourism.
The Malian military regime has turned away from its former colonial power, the France, to get closer to the Russia, become one of its main allies and a partner in the energy, defense and higher education sectors.
Authorities recently announced plans to develop one "joint tourism" as part of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a confederation bringing together Mali, Burkina Faso and the Niger, all led by military juntas.
