Africa is gifted by nature and is exceedingly well endowed with diverse resources including vegetation, insects, wild animals, mountains, rivers, lakes, surrounded by oceans and hot springs among others. Despite the vast resources, Africa received only 56 million tourists in 2013 in accordance with UNWTO report of 2014 and top countries with reported figures include the following;

* = provisional figure or data 2013

(A)- used 2012 figures as estimate.

Source: http://dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/sites/all/files/pdf/unwto_highlights14_en_hr.pdf

The above 12 countries of Africa received over 39 million tourists representing over 66% of the tourists received in Africa and the rest of 42 African countries were left to shared the balance of 17 million tourists. Africa generated revenue of US$ 34.2bn out of tourism in 2013.

How does Africa compare with France?

France with fewer resources than Africa received over 83 million (estimate) tourists in 2013 generating revenue of over US$ 56.1bn.

What can Africa do to promote tourism?

Africa must address the following challenges in the area of tourism sector;

• Preparing profiles and business cases for tourism in Africa
• Attracting investment for development and improvement of infrastructure in tourism
• Africans taking a key in marketing Africa as tourist destination
• Promoting domestic tourism in Africa
• Addressing the lack of adequate number of experienced and competent human resources to manage the sector.
• Providing the rest of the world with balanced news about Africa
• Ensuring good governance is being practiced across Africa

Conclusion

Africa has to act now in order to have a fair share of the global tourism. The following quote of Arnold Schwarzenegger rings a bell for Africa

“You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in the pocket.”

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