Tourism in Africa

Abstract

The quality of Africa’s resource endowment for tourism is exceptional, but most countries have only barely developed their tourism potential. The continent receives about 4% of all international travelers and tourism receipts, but tourism is “significant” (>2% GDP and >5% exports) in about half of SSA countries. Countries in Africa are now focusing on tourism as a source of growth and diversification, but with only limited policy guidance from most donors, despite the sector’s potential. At present, the World Bank Group (WBG) provides limited support for tourism and has no overall sector strategy, though the CDF, PRSP and CAS are helping to define such strategies in a few countries. This paper gives a broad overview of issues in tourism in Africa and suggests guidelines to assist countries to develop a more coherent framework for tourism. Given its cross-sectoral nature, tourism can only grow sustainably if it is integrated into the country’s overall economic, social and physical planning policies. Where national attractions are shared with neighboring countries, joint or regional promotion and marketing can be effective. Partial measures are unlikely to address vested interests, underlying economic relationships and generic social or physical constraints effectively. Government’s role is to create the policy framework that will encourage for-profit private investment, and that, in combination with regulatory frameworks, will ensure good economic returns and linkages with other sectors. To be sustainable, tourism requires an open dialogue between the government, the private sector, civil society and local communities to ensure consensual decisions and the generation of economic benefits for a broad spectrum of the population. National policies must conserve the country’s cultural and environmental heritage to preserve the resource base on which tourism is based.