While African economies concentrate on agriculture and industry, tourism has been paid scant attention, despite its potential to deliver economic growth.
This was the view of Dan Kagagi, CE of the Tourism Trust Fund in Kenya, who was addressing delegates to the African Business Leaders Forum in Johannesburg last week.
He said tourism is superior to other industries in Africa because of the way it links other sectors of an economy, the creation of formal and informal employment and the geneÂration of foreign exchange. Tourism can also grow rural economies much faster than other sectors and at the same time contribute to the conservation of the environment.
Travel and tourism spending has exceeded $6-trillion globally and contributes 10% of the world’s GDP. Growth in African tourism exceeded 10% last year, with 36million visitors and $32-billion in revenue.
But Africa’s share of global tourism remains small at only 4%. “Further, within Africa the bulk of tourism arrivals and receipts is dominated by South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco and Kenya. In these countries tourism is the key driver to economic growth because their governments have made tourism a top priority policy, coupled with the role of the private sector,” said Kagagi.
Challenges to developing tourism include war, instability and terror attacks, along with a skills shortage and poor infrastructure. Africa’s adult illiteracy rate, one of the highest in the world, means that insufficient local people are recruited into the tourism industry. A shortage of airports and limited competition among airlines makes access difficult and expensive.
But Kagagi said these challenges are being overcome. Mozambique, for example, experienced the highest share of tourism growth last year, at 37%, despite its economy being devastated at the end of its civil war.
In Kenya, tourism is set to contribute 14% of GDP this year, where it accounts for 9,2% of total formal wage employment and 60% of informal sector employment. But, between 1997 and 2003, the tourism sector underwent the biggest slump in Kenya’s history. Kagagi said this was because of terror attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa, which resulted in travel advisories being issued against the country.
Private sector involvement, marketing and a national tourism policy that emphasised tourism as the basis for sustainÂable development, has helped the industry to recover.
“Tourism in Africa has contributed greatly to national economies, but with limited benefits to the local populations,” said Kagagi. Kenya is shifting towards community-based tourism, which will alleviate poverty and aid conservation.
But community tourism can only be successful if ownership of the enterprise is vested in the community. “Real ownership at the community level must be in words and in deed — they must be the real owners of enterprises established. This means they have a lot to lose if the business is not successful,” he said.
“Many community or communal business initiatives have had poor investment returns over the years, caused by several reasons, including lack of ownership, limited experience in business management or simply no interest in the business. Tourism will not replace the normal economic activities of the community, nor will it be the sole solution for poverty eradication, but it has the potential to generate additional income and contribute to poverty alleviation.”