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The State of Tourism in Africa

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The State of Tourism in Africa The State of Tourism in Africa A joint publication of Africa House at New York University (NYU), VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 1 the Africa Travel Association (ATA) and the World Bank (WB) SEPTEMBER 2011 AFRICA The Continuing Case for TOURISM FACTS l Africa’s tourism arrivals Tourism—Especially in grew from 37 million in 2003 to 63 million in 2010 Extraordinary Times l International tourism his second issue of The State of Tour- ernment was eager to get tourism back. receipts in Africa totaled ism in Africa continues to tell the story Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, the country’s US $44 billion in 2010 Tof how tourism not only drives eco- new Minister of Tourism, launched a variety l In 2010 Morocco, Angola, nomic growth and development, but also of innovative marketing strategies. While it Cape Verde, Madagascar, contributes to economic recovery. More and will take time for Egypt’s tourism sector to South Africa and Egypt all more tourism is showing its resilience in reach its former volume, there is a belief reported double-digit growth ordinary and extraordinary times. among many tourism stakeholders that in arrivals. Tanzania, and In early 2011, tourism in North Africa Egypt’s past popularity as a historical and Mauritius also showed strong suffered from the shocks of political change. cultural destination will continue to be what growth rates in 2010 A number of countries issued travel warn- drives tourists to visit the “new Egypt”. ings for North Africa; tour operators rerout- There are many examples to learn from l Preliminary figures for the ed their customers and cancelled prebooked other destinations bouncing back after first four months of 2011 show trips. In 2010, Egypt had received 14 million major setbacks. After the World Trade Cen- strong growth in arrivals for visitors. Tourism was also the second largest ter attack on September 11, 2001, New York Cape Verde, Kenya, revenue source for the country, generating City was in a state of shock, lodging occu- Madagascar and Senegal US$12.5 billion in 2010. Yet, in January 2011, pancy levels plummeted and air travel was l Direct travel and tourism occupancy levels in hotels in major tourism limited. Domestic and foreign visitors to employment in Africa totaled areas dropped to single digits, leaving small New York City dropped to 35.2 million in an estimated 7.7 million in tourism entrepreneurs with little to no 2001 and remained at a similar level of 35.3 2010 income. Approximately 210,000 tourists had million in 2002. However, 2003 recorded a left the country in the last week of January, new record high with 37.8 million arrivals. SOURCES: United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) costing the country US$178 million, accord- This experience provides a valuable exam- and The World Travel and Tourism ing to Egypt’s statistics bureau. ple of tourism resiliency for destinations Council (WTTC) By April 2011, with some travel bans lifted, affected by extraordinary events. tourists began to return to Egypt, although, Election-related political unrest in early occupancy rates remained low. Egypt’s gov- 2008 caused Kenya’s tourism arrivals to col- continued on next page continued from page 1 lapse. While the unrest was local- Africa and the Caribbean: ized in a few areas of the country, tourists left the country and oth- Sharing Tourism Insights ers changed their itineraries. Tourism arrivals dropped signifi- here are lessons from the of tourist arrivals to the Carib- bean Tourism Organization cantly during the first quarter of Caribbean experience for bean are from cruises. In 2010, (CTO), the principal organiza- 2008 resulting in a 30% overall TAfrica’s tourism develop- Caribbean destinations received tion supporting the socio-eco- decline in 2008. In response, the ment. The two regions share a total of 43.6 million visitors, of nomic development and promo- Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) many similarities, including which 20.5 million were cruise tion of tourism to the Caribbean implemented their crisis man- colonial experiences and the passenger visits. In contrast, (CTO), aims to explore areas of agement plan engaging both variety of languages, such as with the exception of North collaboration and joint learning public and private sector stake- English, French, Dutch, and Africa, and smaller cruises along of experiences. Hugh Riley, Sec- holders. Spanish. The Caribbean, of the East African coast and to retary General & CEO of the By 2010, Kenya recorded their course, also has strong African Southern Africa, cruise passen- Caribbean Tourism Organiza- highest number of international roots. The arts, music and cui- ger visits are not significant in tion, notes, “Together, both tourist arrivals ever. Tourism has sine have become known as the African continent. organizations can explore the proven to be one of the most “Afro-Caribbean,” an important Sharing tourism development tourism potential that naturally resilient industries for countries asset of the region’s tourism. strategies and experiences is an links Africa and the Caribbean that have encountered natural There are also many differ- important link for Africa and the as a result of the historical, cul- disasters, political unrest or ences. In 2010, tourist arrivals in Caribbean. A memorandum of tural and familial ties.” n other extraordinary events. This Caribbean destinations totaled understanding signed July 26, SOURCE: The Caribbean Tourism is good news during ordinary… 23.1 million in comparison to 63 2010, between the Africa Travel Organization (CTO), September and extraordinary…times. n million in Africa. A large portion Association (ATA) and the Carib- 2011. Harnessing the Power of Social Media he internet and social increase in the number of Ameri- k 78 percent of Americans use ing strategy, since African desti- media have changed the cans sourcing their travel to Afri- the web to make travel decisions. nations not only compete Tway businesses and desti- ca through the internet. Findings k 68 percent trust the web for against each other, but also bet- nations market themselves, their from the second annual Travel travel related advice. ter known destinations. For products and their services in Trust Index Report that examines k Only 5 percent say travel agen- example “vacation destinations” today’s marketplace, particularly Americans’ travel booking behav- cies are their most trusted source is a term searched 74,000 times in the U.S.A. Recent research iors and preferences, echo the for travel-related information. every month on Google. How- from the U.S. Department of U.S. Department of Commerce Using key “search terms” is ever, Africa is not among the top Commerce identified a 15% research highlighting: essential to a successful market- 20 results. The sites, people and eco- diversity of destinations such as Expedia in Africa (2010): $336+ million Egypt, Tanzania and Zimbabwe can compete with other global GROSS-BASE BOOKINGS: ALL LINES OF BUSINESS (AIR, HOTEL, PACKAGES ETC.) destinations. A vineyard tour in “ Expedia’s business to South Africa can also compete $400,000,000 Africa keeps on with vineyards in Rhone or $350,000,000 growing despite the Bordeaux. Getting the message $300,000,000 global financial out begins with placing Africa front and center in consumers’ $250,000,000 downturn. The opportunity is there; minds, especially those with a $200,000,000 the facts are here. This is no longer about predisposition toward a specific $150,000,000 the future; it is about the present.” destination’s products and ser- vices, such as luxury travel, $100,000,000 —DIEGO LOFEUDO, Director Eastern $50,000,000 Mediterranean & Africa, Expedia, Inc. culinary tourism or volunteer- ing. Leveraging search engines, $0 2007 2008 2009 2010 the Internet and social media is a way to achieve this. n 2 THE STATE OF TOURISM IN AFRICA AFRICA TOURISM BY THE NUMBERS Tourist Arrivals in Africa Continue to Grow in 2010 Worldwide arrivals in 2010 were up by 6.6% compared to 2009 and reached 940 million arrivals (UNWTO, 2011). Emerging countries are driving much of the boost as the growth rate of tourist arrivals is exceeding that of developed countries. Emerging economies are also leading the recovery in terms of increased expenditures abroad. In 2009, Africa was the only region to show growth in tour- ism arrivals. Figures from the UNWTO for 2010 show a contin- ued growth trend as the region shows an 8.8% increase in Millions of Millions of arrivals. Africa received 63 million tourists in 2010. The 2010 63.4 FIFA World Cup proved very successful as South Africa’s arriv- 17.4 als increased by 15% in that year with more than 309,000 visi- Visitors to Africa to Visitors 1990 2010 tors arriving to attend the sporting events. Tourist Arrivals and Receipts in Africa by Region (2009) Tourism Employment as a % REGION TOTAL TOURIST ARRIVALS TOTAL LONG HAULS RECEIPTS US$ M of Total Employment (2010) NORTH AFRICA 29,690,794 28,427,896 21,760 % OF TOTAL DIRECT SOUTHERN AFRICA 10,626,127 2,509,893 8,599 COUNTRY EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT EAST AFRICA 11,905,651 3,944,858 6,332 1. SEYCHELLES 22.1 8,600 WEST AFRICA 4,419,061 1,748,555 2,676 CENTRAL AFRICA 1,075,408 654,168 631 2. MAURITIUS 12.7 70,300 TOTAL 57,717,041 37,285,370 39,998 3. CAPE VERDE 12.6 14,400 SOURCE: UNWTO; Long-haul tourist arrivals are defined as all tourists from outside of the SSA region 4. TUNISIA 7.7 247,800 (total tourist arrivals minus total Africa arrivals) 5. MOROCCO 7.6 862,400 Top Five Africa Countries International Tourist Arrivals (2010) SOURCE: WTTC for International Tourist (SUB)
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