IFC proposes $14m investment in tourism fund

The IFC has disclosed a proposed investment of up to $14 million in the senior tranche of the Africa Conservation & Communities Tourism (ACCT) fund. The fund was established in 2021 as a structured debt vehicle providing loans to ecotourism businesses (safari operators, camps, lodges, hotels, etc.) in conservation areas in sub-Saharan Africa.

ACCT is targeting to raise about US$75 million by the end of February 2023 to execute the project. The fund is structured using a blended finance approach with three tranches of capital: a junior tranche, a senior tranche and a grant tranche.

The fund is a response to conservation threats resulting from the Coovid-19 pandemic, with the specific aim of alleviating financial stress in the short to mid-term of well-managed conservation tourism businesses and increasing the conservation and community outcomes delivered by these businesses. As the impact of Covid-19 reduces, the ACCT fund will also look at supporting operators who can catalyse significant financial flows to conservation activity in unutilised, or underutilised, ecologically important natural landscapes, to the benefit of the wildlife and communities who depend on them.