Travel/Tourism
Challenges Facing Growth of Tourism in Africa
By Olukayode Kolawole
I was privileged to attend the 12th edition of the African Travel & Tourism Conference (Akwaaba): a gathering of travel and tourism experts in Africa – both from private establishments and various government parastatals.
The event held at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos on Sunday October 31 through Tuesday November 1 2016.
My attendance was indeed a worthwhile investment as it exposed me to a cocktail of different issues stalling the growth of the industry as well as practical recommendations that are believed to be the fertilizer African tourism needs to germinate.
For me, the icing on the cake was the convergence of key stakeholders from across the continent, and lots of representatives from almost all the African countries talking to people on the many opportunities for tourists in their countries.
I saw sheer enthusiasm on the faces of these representatives as they went about selling their countries as the best tourist destination.
This wasn’t an all-comers event. Even I only had the opportunity to attend because the managing director of Jumia Travel, Kushal Dutta was invited as a panellist to discuss “The Internet and the Future of Travel in Africa.” So I had to tag along!
While all the speakers and panellists touched on many pertinent issues on how to advance the course of tourism in Africa, I found very intriguing a presentation by the deputy minister of tourism for Zimbabwe, Anastacia Ndlovu. She provided some insights on the growth and opportunities that tourism can facilitate in the continent. These opportunities are undoubtedly very promising, if properly harnessed; and are the impetuses urgently required to compliment trade and commerce for a better economic development of each country. It was effortlessly transparent from the data she presented that the advancement of travel and tourism for a country like Nigeria might seem improbable if the government doesn’t embrace its potentials and invests enormously to reap untold economic rewards.
There were six major challenges which the deputy minister harped on as the reasons for de-growth in the sector, although she mentioned that Zimbabwe isn’t exempted from the burden of these challenges.
Underdeveloped Tourism Infrastructure
Countries like Switzerland, Germany, and Austria lead the world in terms of their travel and tourism industry competitiveness. They are closely followed by Spain, United Kingdom, USA, France, Canada, Sweden, and Singapore. There are thousands of hotel rooms per capita in these countries by international standard. The policy environments are also top ranking considering the low cost required to start a business, and a much flexible visa policy. For Africa’s infrastructure to develop, we need to protect our natural and cultural resources, fix our air transport system (90% of tourists travel by air), improve the quality of roads and ports, and fix electricity issues as it applies to each country.
Poor Intra-African Air Connectivity
There are very few flights connecting major cities in Africa and not many of the very few are good enough, or at least meet international standards. The perception of Africa being a country and not a continent has to change. We need to overhaul the entire air transport system within Africa, and engender more airlines to fly within Africa. The number of tourists visiting Africa every year runs into millions. Imagine how many more we will record if we can bring in more airlines to convey many more tourists to various destinations.
Absence of Strategically-Integrated Product Development and Marketing
We need to develop tourism products that are marketable. This is indeed lacking in Africa. For instance, Uganda has been able to grow its tourism sector on one thing that a lot of tourists love to see: gorillas. The country has the largest mountain gorilla population in the world – 54% (over 400 of them). In addition, there are over 5,000 chimpanzees found in Uganda. The country is also home to the world’s largest number of monkeys, baboons, apes, rare colobus, nocturnal Bush babies and Pottos found in pristine eco-environment. Commendably, Uganda has packaged its tourism around gorilla sight-seeing, and a lot of tourists visit every year just to see these apes. Such tourism product/package is what many countries in Africa need to market to the world.
Religious tourism is another untapped market. There are tons of people flying into Nigeria to attend churches such as The Synagogue, Christ Embassy and many more. These people do not come into the country only for a religious programme; they interact with people, discover new places, and go sight-seeing. During these religious programmes, a lot of hotels cash in what they would make in six months in just one week, transporters increase their earnings too, so do airlines.
Visa Restrictions
The effort of the African Union (AU) in developing a pan-African passport which allows all Africans to travel freely within Africa without a visa is highly commendable. Of course, the objective is to achieve what the European Union passport has made possible. However, more needs to be done. If we can cut out visa requirement as we have in some countries, it will engender the growth of tourism as more people will be entitled to free movement within the continent. Although, there are worries that the security threats this poses outweighs the benefits that we as a continent will accrue from lifting all visa restrictions. It therefore becomes the responsibility of each country’s government to ensure there’s adequate supply of security, and if possible putting in place strict measures to gate keep criminals from perpetrating their evil acts.
Poor Treasury Support to Tourism
In most African countries, it is sad that the tourism sector gets the lowest budget even in countries where tourism is their mainstay. This poses a huge threat to the survival and eventual sustainability of the sector. Government at all levels should invest adequate funds to boost its economic viability which has the potential to contribute up to 25% to each country’s GDP.
Brand Africa
Our image as a continent has been marred with poverty, strife, hunger, war, starvation, diseases and so many. These things shape the way people see us and our countries. We need an urgent clinical repair of these bad representations. We have challenges as a country, no doubt – as do developed countries – but we are not our challenges. A lot of tourists, for instance, stayed away from visiting Nigeria in the last 3 years because of the fear of the terrorist group Boko Haram. But then again, which country doesn’t suffer from terrorism whether on a large or small scale? So why should this challenge determine who we are?
It has become our collective responsibility to treat people who come to our country like they are part of us. Remember, we need word of mouth marketing to promote our tourist destinations more than we need advertising. A tourist who was well treated and accommodated will go back to friends and family to recommend your country as a good destination to visit.
To the continent of Africa! To the great people of Africa!! From Africa to the world!!!
Olukayode Kolawole is the Head of PR & Marketing at Jumia Travel NG.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Emirates has made an order for three twin-engine DA42-VI aircraft and its corresponding flight simulator from Austria-based Diamond Aircraft Industries for the Emirates Flight Training Academy (EFTA).
This is in fulfilment of its promise of offering cutting-edge tech and state-of-the-art aircraft to train pilots of the future and help close the industry’s skills gap.
Since 2020, more than 100 cadets have successfully graduated from EFTA, creating a strong pilot recruitment pipeline for Emirates and the industry.
The AUSTRO jet-fuel-powered DA42-VI aircraft is slated to be the flagship that ushers in multi-engine piston (MEP) training at EFTA.
The delivery of the aircraft is expected to commence soon, with all three slated to be received by EFTA in the first half of 2023.
“Our new fleet from Diamond Aircraft is part of our larger strategic intent for our cadet programme. It helps us design a bridging MEP programme for cadets to gain more flying experience while progressing from a single-engine to a light jet aircraft. It strengthens our offering and makes it more unique, rounded and robust.
“Our cadets will benefit hugely as they gain experience on three different types of aircraft, even before they’re licensed. The new fleet also helps us go above and beyond in complying with the new GCAA guidelines.
“The DA42-VI is reliable, eco-friendly and a practical platform for MEP training. We’re confident we’ve made the right choice,” the Vice President of EFTA, Capt Abdulla Al Hammadi, said.
“We are thrilled that our DA42-VI is the choice for Emirates’ flight training. This, once again, solidifies the aircraft’s position as the industry-leading multi-engine piston trainer,” said Liqun (Frank) Zhang, CEO of Diamond Aircraft Austria. “With Emirates, we are adding another premier flight academy to our long list of renowned training operators and are looking forward to supporting them with the most advanced and eco-friendly aircraft available on the market today.”
The 4-seat DA42-VI is the newest version of Diamond’s technology leading light piston twin-engine aircraft. It’s the first certified general aviation piston aircraft to combine modern technology airframe, avionics, and power plants.
With its unique combination of performance and utility, the jet fuel-powered DA42-VI is designed to make transitioning from single to twin-engine much easier. The aircraft generates fuel savings of up to 50% compared to conventional AVGAS-powered twins, and its panoramic canopy provides excellent visibility during all flight manoeuvres.
Since its introduction, well over 1,100 DA42 aircraft have been delivered, outselling all other certified piston twins combined. The all-composite DA42-VI is equipped with efficient, silent, clean and reliable 168hp jet fuel AUSTRO engines AE300, Garmin G1000 NXi with 3-axis Automatic Flight Control System and optional electrically driven air conditioning.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates, Mr Adnan Kazim, has said the airline’s forward bookings have remained robust amid a strong customer demand, spurring the company to ramp up its operations across continents.
According to him, in the past months, the airline has planned and executed the rapid growth of its network operations, reintroducing services to five cities, launching flights to one new destination (Tel Aviv), and adding 251 weekly flights onto existing routes and continuing the roll-out of service enhancements in the air and on the ground.
It was disclosed that Emirates has continued to scale up its A380 operations with the reintroduction of the iconic double-decker across its network: Glasgow (from 26 March), Casablanca from (15 April), Beijing (from 01 May), Shanghai (from 04 June), Nice (from 1 June), Birmingham (from 1 July), Kuala Lumpur (from 01 August), and Taipei (from 01 August).
“Emirates is working hard on several fronts – to bring back operating capacity as quickly as the ecosystem can manage while also upgrading our fleet and product to ensure our customers always enjoy the best possible Emirates experience.
“So far, four of our A380 aircraft have been completely refurbished with our new cabin interiors and Premium Economy seats, and more will enter service as our $2 billion cabin and service enhancement program picks up pace,” Mr Kazim added.
He noted that in the coming months, established routes to Europe, Australia and Africa would be served with more Emirates flights, while in East Asia, more cities are seeing route restarts.
Emirates had upcoming route enhancements by regions, including in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, East Asia, as well as in Africa which covers Cairo: from 25 to 28 weekly flights by 29 October; Dar es Salaam: from 5 flights a week to daily flights starting 01 May and Entebbe: from 6 flights a week to daily flights starting 01 July.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
A number of African countries are focusing on promoting extensively inbound tourism. They are luring potential external investors to the tourism industry.
The latest in the southern African region is Mozambique, which has approved a visa exemption for 28 countries for tourism and business.
As the Council of Ministers approved the decree in mid-March, the exemption applies to visitors holding ordinary passports and allows for a 30-day stay, renewable to an additional 60 days.
The model adopted by the Mozambican government is similar to the United States visa waiver program in the sense that it requires travellers to register on a platform for pre-screening at least 48 hours before travelling and to pay a processing fee of MZN-650 (equivalent £8.50).
In the list released, Nigeria, which prides itself as the giant of Africa and the largest economy on the continent, was missing.
The approved countries for this programme are Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The visa exemption is a follow-up to the launch of a platform last December that allowed prospective visitors to apply for an electronic pre-authorization to travel into the country. The introduction of e-visas has seen an increase of over 30 per cent in the number of travellers entering the country compared to the same period in the previous year.
The e-visa platform commits the country to respond to applications within five days, but general feedback places an average response at 24 hours, and the few issues reported are usually created by users not uploading the required documentation.
President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, since August 2022, has taken steps containing 20 reform measures aimed at delivering to visitors and potential investors a path for a more competitive and more accessible country. Mozambique, with an approximate population of 30 million, is one of the 16-member Southern African Development Community.
