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Messerli, Hannah R.

Finance and Private Sector Development, East and Southern Africa
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economics of tourism; private sector development; tourism planning and development; industrial clusters; special economic zones
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Finance and Private Sector Development, East and Southern Africa
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Last updated: January 31, 2023
Biography
Hannah Messerli is dedicated to utilizing tourism as an economic development tool for emerging economies. As a Senior Private Sector Development Specialist in Tourism for Africa of the World Bank, Dr. Messerli supports government initiatives to develop private sector capacity in tourism across Sub-Saharan Africa. With more than 15 years of experience in public and private sectors in tourism planning and development, she has worked in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. She was a faculty member at New York University and operations consultant in Asia and Australia. Dr. Messerli has master’s and doctorate degrees in hotel administration and tourism planning and development from Cornell University and a master’s degree in tourism planning from The George Washington University.

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Tourism Theory of Change
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018) Twining-Ward, Louise; Messerli, Hannah; Sharma, Amit; Villascusa Cerezo, Jose Miguel
    Theory of Change in tourism is about understanding why and how change happens, so that development programs can make the most of the development potential of this sector. It is critically important that there is full understanding of the challenges, assumptions, solutions and indicators for tourism. The evidence behind tourism as a positive development change agent also needs to be regularly challenged and examined. To be successful, projects need to take the entire tourism landscape into consideration and leverage insights from past projects. Theory of Change (ToC) provides a framework for the planning, execution and evaluation of tourism projects and programs that connects to project goals and development objectives and helps maximize tourism’s potential. This report explains Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation (FCI) Global Practice’s Tourism ToC. It is written for World Bank Group Task Team Leaders (TTLs), Project Teams, and Tourism Specialists, as part of a suite of tools to help improve tourism project design. The report articulates the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of FCI’s approach to project design and implementation. It includes a step-by-step guide to using Theory of Change for tourism project and program design.
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    Tourism in Africa : Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-09-30) Christie, Iain; Fernandes, Eneida; Messerli, Hannah; Twining-Ward, Louise
    For African countries looking to sustain and increase their unprecedented growth rates of recent years, the potential of tourism has not been fully recognized as a vital source of economic and development power that can strengthen and expand the continent's economies. With a special analysis of 24 tourism case studies from around the world- spanning Sub-Saharan and North Africa, Asia, Central and Latin America, and the Middle East- this report is a sustainable framework for sustainable tourism in Africa. It identifies policies and institutional approaches for African countries to make tourist industries more competitive and attractive to new investment. The study shows how tourism in Thailand barely existed in the 1960s and yet 40 years later, it employs 15 to 20 percent of the country's workforce; Cancun in Mexico grew from an uninhabited peninsula into one of the most visited resorts in the world in just 35 years. Mozambique has managed a seemingly impossible transformation of its tourism industry. While the benefits of tourism development are many, the possible approaches and strategies for development number even more. This work analyzes persistent constraints and how to resolve them through policy and business reforms that have unleashed tourism potential across other regions of the world. To become competitive worldwide, African governments and the private sector must work together in planning tourism infrastructure, promotion and financing. This report is the first to comprehensively examine tourism in Africa regionally and recommend practical, evidence-based measures enabling the sector's economic and development power. This gives new impetus to the continent's development progress by leveraging tourism in pursuit of lasting poverty alleviation and significantly more jobs and opportunity for all Africans. This report identifies policies and institutional approaches to improve the tourism competitiveness of African countries so they can move up the pyramid. It clearly explains the opportunities and challenges that tourism offers and suggests tourism competitiveness strategies based on tourism economic success stories from across the world.
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    Tourism in Africa : Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods
    (Washington, DC: World Bank and Agence Française de Développement, 2014-06-06) Christie, Iain; Fernandes, Eneida; Messerli, Hannah; Twining-Ward, Louise
    This report is the first to examine tourism in Africa comprehensively and regionally and the first to recommend practical, evidence-based measures enabling the sector s economic and development power. This gives new impetus to the continent s development progress by leveraging tourism in pursuit of lasting poverty alleviation and the creation of significantly more jobs and opportunities for all Africans.
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    Transformation through Tourism : Harnessing Tourism as a Development Tool for Improved Livelihoods
    (Taylor and Francis, 2011-09-20) Messerli, Hannah R.
    Is tourism a viable development tool? While the number of tourist arrivals at developed and developing countries grows, the question continues to arise as to the true propoor impact of tourism. The purpose of this note is to highlight some examples of the World Bank’s recent work in tourism and explore possible approaches for the future.