Collaborate, innovate and empower: Experts outline Africa’s Tourism path to growth
Tourism Industry experts are calling on African leaders to see tourism as a great revenue earner for the economic growth of the continent if fully harnessed. Speaking at the 20th Akwaaba African Travel Market 2024 in Lagos, the experts lamented factors hindering tourism growth in the continent to include visa policy issues, poor leveraging of technology, non-involvement of the local communities, poor infrastructure amongst others.
They noted that, Africa is replete with rich cultural heritage, awesome natural beauty, abundant widelife but unfortunately, remains untapped.
At the panel discussion on how to change this narrative of many years, the moderator of the session, organizer of the market, Amb. Ikechi Uko said, a change can be achieved only if there is collaboration, partnerships and the political will by the government to do so.
He recalled the recent reduction on Visa-On-Arrival fees by the Nigerian Government due to the complaints by foreign participants to the Akwaaba African Travel Market, adding that, this has brought great relief to the visitors and seamless movement for many others into the country.
Others discussants like Mr. Ahmed Naaman of Dodi Travels Ghana said, restrictive visa policy over the years has limited visitors from visiting Africa. According to him, those willing to come visit knows the continent has a lot to offer in terms of tourism but because of having to get different visas for every country they want to visit and with high visa fees, they would rather opt to visit one place and go back.
Mr. Naaman also added that, another hurdle is the lengthy processing period of the visas which can be frustrating. Mr. Edi Lawani of Kuruku Nigeria, pointed out that, Africa is yet to fully embrace technology to sell their beautiful unique tourism destinations to the world.
According to him, many African countries are still grappling to up their digital infrastructure thus making it difficult for tourists to get information about destinations, festivals, activities or even communicate with local tour operators and travel agencies in those countries.
In addition, Mr. Lawani stated that, in this era of social media, the continent is lagging behind in the use of these tools like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and others which has and is revolutionizing the tourism industry globally.
Still on the use of technology especially in the area of payments for tour packages and others, an MTN representative, Mr. Bayo Omomowo said, the company has revolutionized the payments process with the introduction of their payment platform in about six African countries called MOMO.
In paying for packages, he said, a client from Nigeria can pay with the naira using Momo where it is available, eliminating the stress of changing the naira to the currency of the country he or she is planning to visit before paying.
“The Momo base in Nigeria is the highest in Africa so, there is a huge market for you, we can work together, we can digitalize to enable you to a platform, we have enabled the cross border remittance, personal remittances. We are now working on the big payment site, we can work together, your tours, products once they are available, you can advertise your bookings, packages, a Nigerian that wants to buy, when you enable it will be able to pay in naira”.
Mr. Davidson Mugisha from Rwanda emphasized on community involvement in driving tourism, adding that, in many countries, government and the private sectors tend to do everything alone without involving the communities who have the right knowledge of the culture, location of sites and destinations.
He said, government, foreign and private initiatives in their quest to boost the sector can achieve a little if the communities are sidelined.
Mugisha cited the initiative Rwanda has adopted to up their game in the industry bringing the youths into the picture saying, “70% of youth are not involved in tourism, people who did not go to school not educated can still benefit from tourism, in Rwanda put people in tourism cooperatives and then they are trained to market their culture, their history”.
He also emphasized that, doing things without the community inputs in the name of development can lead to conflict and rivalry, adding that, carrying them along can bring about development and job creation for youths in the areas.
Other areas of concern to Mugisha is epileptic internet connection, which he described as poor, insecurity, taxes tourists pay coming into the country and even accessing the sites.
Dr. Adama Bah from Gambia, advocated for a collaborative approach across the continent’s tourism industry.
“If we get support from the African Union (AU) and others, we can complete the entire travel market. By joining forces, we can create a Pan-African travel market where we all see ourselves and sell our products”.
He highlighted Africa’s rich cultural heritage as a major asset, underscoring the need for better implementation of strategies within the sector. “Our biggest asset is culture, but there is a need for improvement in what we are doing”.
However, the lack of follow-through on initiatives was cited as a significant barrier to progress.
Dr. Bah pointed to a recurring challenge faced across various sectors on the continent, “In Africa, we are very good at creating blueprints and agreeing on things, but we seldom implement them. That is one of our biggest problems”.
He recognized the organizer of the Akwaaba African Travel Market, Amb. Ikechi Uko, for his two decades of professionalism and commitment. “Congratulations to Ikechi for 20 years of professionalism and engagement. I only hope this could evolve into a Pan-African trade market”.
The tourism experts therefore called on African governments and tourism stakeholders to work together to address the visa policy issues, improve technology leverage, and involve local communities in tourism development to change the narrative of the tourism industry in the whole of the Africa continent.
