Sustainable tourism is still a misnomer

For many travellers, the definition of a sustainable tourism establishment is confined to its carbon footprint, i.e., whether it follows ‘green’ principles like not littering, reducing plastic use, or conserving water and energy. But this is only a small part of what sustainable tourism is. 

What’s often missing in the understanding of ‘eco-friendly’ is social impact (whether local communities are employed fairly, share in profits, have a voice), cultural respect (whether traditions are preserved or exploited for entertainment), economic sustainability (whether tourism income stays local or flows to other regions or foreign corporations), and environmental custodianship (protecting the ecosystem). 

The World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024 (TTDI), which measures how well prepared countries are to develop tourism sustainably and resiliently, shows that despite some improvement, many African countries remain below the global average in several dimensions of the index, particularly those related to creating an enabling environment and infrastructure. 

In other words, many African countries lack the foundational systems and services – like reliable transport, digital connectivity, energy, sanitation, and governance frameworks – that are necessary for tourism to grow sustainably, inclusively, and competitively. South Africa is the highest-ranked African country, 55th out of 119 countries globally, followed by Ghana at 106, reflecting the tourism infrastructure and services challenges that African countries face. 

“I don’t like the word ‘sustainable’ in tourism,” says Caroline Ungersbock, CEO of the Sustainable Tourism Partnership Programme. “Sustainability in tourism essentially means conscientious, community-conscious, business practice. It means providing a service, including to your employees, the environment and the community in which you operate.”

Ungersbock identifies transport infrastructure as the biggest stumbling block to sustainable tourism in Africa, especially in remote places like the Central Karoo in the Northern Cape, where she has moved, partly to lead an initiative to transform an old aerodrome in Victoria West into a functioning national airport. “Underdeveloped areas don’t develop on their own. You need a catalytic project like this to address systemic poverty in the region. An airport would transform the tourism market here, making the region far more accessible,” she says. 

On average, tourists make around 11 purchase decisions per day, underscoring the need for communities to curate a wide range of engaging, accessible experiences that encourage local spending, Ungersbock says. 

“So tourism operators, aside from avoiding waste and overconsumption, need to be attuned to and integrated into their immediate economic environment. This means supporting local businesses. Source locally, and use local transport providers rather than purchasing buses. Participate in local conservation efforts, and familiarise yourself with the local bylaws and culture,” she advises them. Sourcing locally can be challenging, so tour operators need to plan well for this and empower local communities to meet the standards that customers expect.

In Africa’s prized national parks, sustainable tourism depends on ecosystem resilience, not just the visibility of charismatic species like elephants and lions. It’s about seeing national parks as living systems within larger social and ecological networks. 

Recent abominable behaviour at the Great Migration in Tanzania epitomises overcrowding tourism, prioritising Instagram snaps over an immersive experience that respects the local ecology and culture. The onus needs to be on the media and tour operators to educate tourists on how to behave, but the ecological solution is to create integrated and vast landscapes.

This all involves protecting lesser-known species and functional diversity, such as soil microbes, pollinators, seed dispersers, etc., tracking habitat health, species interactions, and food-web dynamics, and creating wildlife corridors between protected areas through initiatives like the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) linking Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Establishing vast wildlife corridors with buffer zones that incorporate conservation-enhancing agriculture also enables the integration of supply chains (such as fresh vegetables and honey) into tourism lodges.  

“In specific contexts like the Associated Private Nature Reserves (an association of privately owned nature reserves bordering on the Kruger National Park), artificial boreholes, for instance, create elephant densities that prevent natural population adaptations and migratory movements. In natural conditions, elephants migrate long distances following seasonal rains, allowing vegetation to recover,” says Dr Ross Harvey, Good Governance Africa’s Chief Research Officer. 

When tourists come for the experience, regardless of whether they see a ‘big five’ mammal, much of the current pressure will be relieved. 

Integrating indigenous ecological knowledge has proven invaluable in this objective, as many traditional land-use practices enhance biodiversity. For instance, rotational grazing and sacred groves (patches of wilderness that are protected for spiritual, cultural, or religious reasons) create space and time for nature to recover. 

In northern Kenya, for example, Samburu and Maasai conservancies use traditional grazing calendars to manage wildlife corridors that double as eco-tourism zones, maintaining grassland health and biodiversity.

The imperative to adhere to and deepen sustainable tourism practices is also being fuelled by increasing awareness among tourists themselves. Organisations like the African Wildlife Foundation note that there is a “growing segment of tourists who are looking for sustainable travel options” in Africa, even if it doesn’t translate to notable behaviour change, or being able to distinguish between genuine sustainable practices from ‘greenwashing’, which refers to misleading marketing lingo that describes tourism operators as eco-friendly based on superficial criteria like solar power use alone.

The gap between these understandings is why many tourism campaigns are shifting from 

‘eco-friendly’ branding to ‘responsible travel’ or ‘regenerative tourism’, terms that capture the fuller picture as well as the goal to leave places better than they were before. 

Regenerative tourism ties visitor spending directly to restoration (reforestation, anti-poaching, coral rehabilitation). For example, at Grootbos game reserve in Hermanus, Western Cape, the Grootbos Foundation channels every guest stay into its ‘Green Futures’ (employing locals in seed collection and nursery work) and ‘Future Trees’ (planting indigenous trees) programmes.

On Mozambique’s Vamizi Island, within the Quirimbas Archipelago, high-end eco-lodges integrate marine science and conservation funding into visitor packages. Conservation activities include coral monitoring, turtle nesting protection, and mangrove restoration projects, which are financed through tourism revenue.

These models prove that tourism can move beyond sustainability to become an engine for ecological renewal.  

The most successful cases typically access blended financing (combining grants, private investment, and partnerships), and can demonstrate clear, measurable impact in conservation and communities, turning sustainability into a business proposition, not just a moral one. 

Currently, the scale of regenerative tourism projects in Africa is limited. If scaled up, it would mean more tourists and therefore more funding for reforestation, wetland restoration and biodiversity protection. Simultaneously, however, strong governance is required to mitigate increased carbon emissions from increased tourist numbers and infrastructure development. 

This includes encouraging local/regional tourism and keeping operational emissions low by using solar microgrids and local, sustainable building materials, for example. Long-haul flights to high-end, genuinely sustainable destinations are more than  likely worth  the emissions for the benefit to which those tourists contribute.

A good example of a scaled-up regenerative tourism project is the network of conservancies on Maasai land adjacent to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, where local Maasai communities lease land for wildlife conservation and tourism. 

These conservancies cover substantial land areas, involve multiple lodges and operators, and serve as a model for community-conservancy tourism in East Africa. 

As the CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation, Kaddu Sebunya, observes, “The global trend toward eco-tourism offers a significant opportunity for Africa. 

By building eco-friendly resorts and lodges, and promoting practices that minimise environmental impact, we can attract a growing segment of tourists who are looking for sustainable travel options. 

Africa’s natural beauty is one of its greatest assets, and preserving it is not only a moral imperative but also a smart business strategy.”