Africa received 67 million tourists in 2018
Travel Biz News —
Africa received 67 million international tourist arrivals in 2018, as compared to 63 million in 2017 and 58 million in 2016. Africa received only 5 per cent share of international arrivals in 2017.
The third edition of the Hospitality Report Africa by Jumia looks at trends in the continent’s tourism, travel, hospitality and aviation industries.
Africa’s travel and tourism remains one of the key growth drivers of the continent’s economy, contributing 8.5% (or $194.2bn) of the GDP in 2018 , according to Jumia report.
This growth record placed Africa as the second-fastest growing tourism region in the world, with a growth rate of 5.6% in 2018 after Asia Pacific and against a 3.9% global average growth rate.
Morocco and South Africa were the top tourism destinations, with approximately 11 and 10 million arrivals per annum respectively.
Ethiopia’s visa relaxation policies combined with improved connectivity as a regional transport hub placed the country as Africa’s fastest growing travel country.
The travel and tourism sector directly and indirectly provided employment for about 24.3 million people in 2018, according to the report.
Leisure remains an important component of Africa’s tourism industry, taking up a majority 71% of the tourist expenditure in 2018.
Moreover, more governments among them Kenya Rwanda, and South Africa are seen to be driving initiatives towards diversifying business tourism products through MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions).
In 2019, there was less hotel pipeline activity with 75,155 rooms in 401 hotels; as compared to 2018 which had a pipeline activity of 76,322 rooms in 418 hotels. Sub Saharan Africa recorded the highest pipeline with 45,861 rooms in 276 hotels, while North Africa had 29,294 rooms in 125 hotels.
While Africa’s passenger traffic increased from 88.5 million in 2017 to 92 million in 2018 , it’s world share was only 2.1 per cent.
This was attributed to high competition from other regions such as the Asia Pacific. Africa’s share is however predicted to grow by 4.9% annually over the next 20 years , according to Hospitality Report Africa by Jumia .
Sept. 2019
Image : Agadir – One of the pearls of Morocco . Morocco is the top destination in African continent. Photo – Visit Morocco
