Tourism forms the county's economic base.
For small states, where tourism forms about 25% of export earnings, the contraction was tough.The IMF offers other possible explanations for weak economic performance, including high emigration.
Tourism forms the city's economic base; manufacturing (including hydraulic valves, wood products, magnetic sensors, machine parts, electronics, and aviation equipment), shipping (including citrus), and software development are also important.
These house the offices of banks and finance companies that, along with information technology, manufacturing and tourism, form the basis for the economy on this Indian Ocean island, which measures 2,040 square kilometers, or 788 square miles.
Tourism formed part of Fraga's brief, and in the 1960s it developed into a much-prized motor of the economy, to the point that when an American bomber crashed near the village of Palomares, jettisoning four hydrogen bombs into the sea, Fraga bathed on an adjacent beach to prove there was no danger.
In September 2009, Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism formed a task force aimed at aiding a corporate turnaround at JAL, which examined various cost-cutting and strategic partnership proposals.
But as the new-found popularity of formerly war-torn countries such as Nicaragua and Vietnam shows, tourism can form an important part of a nation's recovery.
Thomas Cook faces a renewed challenge from TUI, the tourism company formed in December from the merger of London-listed TUI Travel and German majority owner TUI AG.
The state has transferred much of the office's tangible property, including trade show booths, brochures and digital photo archives, to members of a tourism alliance formed this year with the goal of taking over statewide marketing coordination.
But everyone had to fill in a "People's Republic of China Xisha Islands Tourism Application Form" (the Paracels are known as Xisha in Chinese, and Paracels or Hoang Sa in Vietnamese).
"The Thing Itself" (Riverhead Books; $24.95), to be published next week, is his answer, delivered in a tour of the "authentic" that includes antiques and old houses, tourism in all forms and the lure of the country, as well as its prize, the country house.
