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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A new era in Ivory Coast tourism began on Thursday (6 January) with the official opening of the Assinie luxury village. Some 700 holiday-makers from its controllers, the French Club Mediterranee, were there while Ivory Coast President Felix Houphouet-Boigny inaugurated the centre. Financed by SIETHO -- the Ivory Coast Soviety for Expansion of Tourism and Hotels -- it cost more than three million sterling, and is the biggest of its kind in West Africa.

About 62 miles (100 kilometres) east of Abidjan, Assinie's first 200 bungalows are set on a narrow strip of land between the sea and a picturesque lagoon. It is expected that the muti-facility centre will provide a great boost to the country's economy and will cater for some the 300,000 tourists expecting to be visiting the Ivory Coast by 1980.

SYNOPSIS: Set between sea and lagoon in the Ivory Coast -- Assinie tourist village, the biggest of its kind in West Africa.

Its first guests -- 700 members of the French Club Mediterranee -- arrived in mid-December, but it wasn't until Thursday that the luxury centre was officially inaugurated.

Ivory Coast President, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, attended the ceremony. The project -- home financed -- cost over three million sterling.

The village -- some 80 miles east of abidjan has been built to merge naturally with the lush landscape. Nestling among coconut groves, Assinie's red brick bungalows have thatched roofs and are built of wood. The swimming pool is filled with clear water channelled form the sea. Every type of water sport is provided for.

Other facilities include buildings for shows and exhibitions and a wide variety of shops. Villages in the area have begun to set up co-operatives to sell their produce. The tourists will consume thousands of kilograms of chickens, fresh vegetables and fish over the next decade. Opening a new era of large-scale tourism, Assinie is expected to provide a great boost to the Ivory Coast economy. By 1980. It is hoped to be able to absorb many of the 300,000 tourists expected to be visiting the Ivory Coast.