AFRICAN ministers responsible for tourism and stakeholders in the industry recently converged in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to discuss challenges inhibiting growth of tourism on the continent.
The meeting was organised by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
The UNWTO Regional Commission for Africa saw tourism officials meeting over three days from April 19 to 21 to discuss tourism and ethics, tourism and security and the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development to be celebrated in 2017.
These elements have been identified as key to sustainable growth of tourism.
Africa, despite having prime tourism products, has not realised much from its resources as a result of negative publicity peddled by Western countries.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries whose tourism sector has been stunted by massive negative publicity.
The country received a backlash from the West after it embarked on the Land Reform Programme in 2000 that sought to correct the land imbalances created by the colonialists.
Before the exercise, about
4 000 white commercial farmers occupied the country’s prime land, but over 400 000 black households got land after the programme was implemented.
The negative publicity that followed the historical and life-transforming programme saw the number of tourist arrivals declining sharply in Zimbabwe.
Europe and America were the country’s major source markets.
However, fortunes in the sector are beginning to improve as the West seeks to re-engage the country after they totally failed in their agenda to dislodge the revolutionary ZANU PF party from power.
Relations between Zimbabwe and the West have been thawing and it has taken aggressive marketing and rebranding by the country’s tourism industry to start turning around the fortunes of the sector.
Under the ‘Zimbabwe – A World of Wonders’ banner, more people are getting improved destination awareness.
It is important to note that negative publicity has also affected countries like Sierra Leone.
Last year, Sierra Leone suffered immensely from bad publicity arising from the effects of the Ebola virus that ravaged the country.
Egypt also suffered from the bad media coverage after the Arab spring which ironically was engineered by the West.
The West imposed travel bans on its nationals (Egyptian), a development which retarded the growth of tourism.
Therefore it has taken African countries time to recover from the devastating effects of negative reportage, a development which calls for African countries to find ways of cushioning themselves against vagaries by exploring alternative markets in the East.
The Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa recently said nations had to work hard to ensure that diseases were brought under control.
“Communicable diseases such as cholera and Ebola have scared people,” he said.
“There is need for countries to prevent diseases by having strong surveillance systems, being alert and informing people.
“There is also need to strengthen health systems.”
With 1,8 billion travellers worldwide, there is need for African countries to tap into this market chunk by making it easy for tourists to get to tourist attractions.
Speaking at the meeting in Côte d’Ivoire, UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai said fostering tourism would improve perception of the African continent.
“Côte d’Ivoire is one of the most evident examples of the great potential of African tourism as it holds impressive natural assets and unique cultural diversity and traditions,” said Rifai.
“Continuing to foster tourism in this part of the world can really make a difference, not only for society as a whole, but for the perception of the African continent in the world.”
The importance of tourism to Cote d’Ivoire has been reflected in the acceptance by President Alassane Ouattara of the UNWTO/WTTC Open Letter on Travel and Tourism, geared to raise awareness and support of tourism at the highest political level.
Alongside the meeting was another that aimed at promoting the sustainability of tourism in Africa.
The Sustainable Tourism Conference of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns focused on enhancing tourism investment, financing and collaboration among stakeholders to improve the tourism sector’s performance.
The meeting coincided with the holding of the Salon International du Tourisme d´Abidjan (SITA) providing delegates an opportunity to participate in the fair that brings together local exhibitors as well as those from the neighbouring countries.
To achieve a double digit tourism market share by 2020, Africa must address policies governing tourism in African nations.
Cultivating domestic tourism was also cited as another measure to eradicate the Western dependency syndrome.