African tourism aims for revival

According to data from the African Union, the continent saw 55 billion US dollars in losses when it comes to the tourism sector blocked by the recent pandemic.

Nevertheless, South Africa relies on innovation translated into digital technology and market diversification in order to revive its tourism industry.

"We are encouraging them to come to South Africa. We are saying it is the best place you can be in. We have the best wines, hotels. If you want to get over the stress of lockdown, think of coming to South Africa", appealed the country’s Minister of Tourism, Lindiwe Sisulu.

Yet the African tourism faces significant difficulties due to high investment taxes, elevated crime rates across multiple countries, discouraging visa bureaucracy and more. But, in order to boost tourism on the continent and attract investors, officials aim to ease travel regulations.

"We do have challenges. It's hard to pick a region because we are working more together as a continent. Africa trade is huge but to be honest, slot of the African countries have red tape and visa issues", Carol Weaving, Director of Reed Exhibition Africa, also explained.

Durban, for example, is one of South Africa’s most popular destinations, with all year-round foreign tourists enjoying the warm waters of the ocean, pleasant sun and fascinating cultural hubs. In order to reach this reputation, authorities in Durban made major tourism market adjustments. Winile Mntungwa, Durban's deputy director of tourism, explains:

"As a city we have been very response to saying businesses must get a rebate so that they are able to have cash flow and considering that they were converted to business rates to residential rates which has a much lower margin. Secondly, the city increased the funding for our community organizations which are our regional stakeholders. We increased it by 100%".

Similarly, poor connectivity inside the continent needs to be addressed with the goal of attracting more tourists and increase the industry’s revenue. Private partnerships are expected to soon deliver a solution to this problem.

Global travel and tourism industry prior to Covid-19 pandemic was one of the main players in the world economy, as it accounted for 10 percent of the GDP.

 

Source: africanews.com