THERE has been an unprecedented growth in tourism in Africa during the past decade, according to data made available at the 36th meeting of the World Tourism Organisations Commission for Africa in Windhoek, Namibia. Yussuf Abdullahi Sukkar, chairman of the Commission for Africa, said that international tourist arrivals in the 1990s had increased by an annual growth rate of 4.2%. He added that the corresponding increase in international tourism receipts from $264bn to $476bn meant a growth rate of 6.3% per annum. This expansion has placed tourism as the leading sector in world trade, he noted. Regional figures for Africa during the same decade showed an increase in arrivals from 15-million to 27-million, recording a annual growth of 6.7%, albeit from a low base. – Pana
Monday May 28, 2001