Rethinking Tourism for Social Economic Development in the East African Community
2nd Regional Tourism EXPO (EARTE’22) in Bujumbura, Burundi
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Welcome to the Not an Afterthought Newsletter. We lead the conversation on how to accelerate Africa’s socio-economic development with a particular emphasis on the role technology will play in fueling economic growth that will make Africa not an afterthought!
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has predicted that Africa’s tourism and travel industry will create approximately 14 million jobs by 2032. That is about 1.4 million jobs per year.
In line with that positive forecast, the East African Community (EAC) is currently hosting the 2nd Regional Tourism EXPO (EARTE’22) in Bujumbura, Burundi.
The EXPO aims to inform travelers that the region is ready to receive them and promote the East African Community as a single tourist destination.
Why Let Travelers Know The Region is Ready?
It is the only way to get the industry back to where it was.
Covid-19 devastated the region’s tourism sector, with its contribution to the EAC’s GDP falling from 6.8% ($182.4 billion) to 3.8% ($95.5 billion) in 2020.
More chilling, over six million people across the EAC lost their jobs!
Luckily, the sector is showing signs of recovery. Last year (2021), tourism contribution to GDP rose by 23.5%.
Christophe Bazivamo, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in Charge of Productive and Social Sectors, expressed his confidence that the region would recover fully by 2024.
We have all it takes, including unmatched scenery, abundant wildlife, rich culture and opportunities for business to ensure that tourism in the region is vibrant again. —Bazivamo.
However, to achieve the EXPO’s theme of “Rethinking Tourism for Social Economic Development in the East African Community,” more has to be done.
It Starts with Actually ‘Rethinking’
Rethinking means assessing in order to change.
For a long time, Africa has done tourism one way and hasn’t been able to extract maximum value from the industry.
That is evident when you look at the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (TTCI) 2019 report, which showed that Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) ranked at the bottom.
The TTCI report ranks regions based on 14 key pillars. Sub-Saharan Africa lagged behind the rest of the world across all 14 pillars. That is despite the region having some of the world’s leading natural resources.
Even with Covid-19, The African tourism industry was disproportionately affected because Africa’s brand of tourism is less resilient. The number of jobs in the sector fell by 29.3% (7.2 million jobs), while the rate was much lower in other regions.
Take Australia, for example, a big tourism market—a government report shows that tourism jobs only fell by 5.1%.
The question, therefore, becomes, how can the region rethink tourism to ensure it extracts maximum value and is more resilient?
Solve The Underlying Weaknesses
There is a reason why the tourism market in East Africa was still lagging behind other regions in the world even when it was at its best—before Covid-19.
It is because of the underlying issues that have made tourism in the region less competitive. They include:
1. Infrastructure
SSA has the least-developed infrastructure compared to other regions, which clogs up essential arteries of travel and tourism.
Take air infrastructure; a couple of weeks ago, the East African ran a story of how most of the national airlines in the East African Community were operating at a loss. The traffic is not high enough to facilitate profits.
Before that, during the High-Level Retreat for the Summit on the EAC Common Market, the council brought to the attention of the EAC presidents the need to:
Consider the establishment of a single EAC air transport market
Harmonize taxes, fees and levies on aviation
Lower air transport within EAC
If the EAC presidents commit to resolving these key issues, it will strengthen the domestic airline sector and increase airport density. The local economies will be better equipped to facilitate business and tourist travel.
2. Below Average ICT Adoption
Travelers are increasingly relying on technology to facilitate a smooth travel experience. An efficient tech infrastructure allows travelers and tourists to:
Book Airbnb and hotels easily
Request rides on apps such as Uber
Make use of Google maps for directions
Stay connected with one’s friends online
Beyond that, tech allows one to communicate with family and friends back home. Roaming charges tend to be quite high, but if travelers have access to reliable internet, they can use alternative means such as WhatsApp or Google Meet to communicate.
ICT adoption is growing steadily across the East African Community but is still below global averages. This tends to put off a big chunk of international travelers. Ensuring all the EAC countries are accelerating ICT adoption will go a long way in attracting visitors.
3. Health and Hygiene Concerns
The East Africa Community has gone out of its way to improve the health capacity in the region.
It has done this by establishing the Regional Centers of Excellence (RCoEs) that provide vocational training, quality education and research to practitioners and students in the health industry. The goal is to nurture expert health practitioners that can help improve the health capacity of the region.
Unfortunately, until that reality is realized, health and hygiene concerns keep away many visitors.
Embrace and Nurture New Models of Tourism
New models of tourism are coming up, especially on the domestic front. One such model is individuals or companies who curate and host travel experiences for groups of strangers.
The individual/company plans an itinerary, estimates the number of travelers they can handle, works out a cost to cover the itinerary, and then puts it out to the public for anyone who wants to join.
The cost is often low because you are traveling as a group, and service providers tend to lower prices for large groups. I was privileged enough to attend two such trips—a hike to Ngare Ndare forest in Nanyuki, Kenya, and a staycation at Ol Talet Cottages in Kenya curated by Just Rioba. She hosts trips across Africa.
The experience was incredible, mainly because it was affordable. A big hindrance to domestic travel has always been the cost.
The Travel and Tourism Competitive Index report noted that intra-regional travel (moving within the same region) was low because Africa did not have a robust middle class.
With these new models that people are innovating, a high rate of intra-regional travel is possible. Interestingly, most individuals/companies hosting such trips focus on travel across Africa.
Good examples are:
Rheen Ruby who hosts backpacking trips across East Africa (IG: @rheenruby)
Outdoors Africa which hosts trips for singles who love camping, road trips and hiking across Africa (TikTok: @brenda_brees)
If the EAC puts its energy into encouraging and nurturing these new travel models, the sky is the limit for East African Community tourism sector.
Advocate for Intra-Regional Tourism Through Sensitization & Friendly Policies
In 2020, when Covid-19 was at its worst, the Giraffe Center in Kenya, which had fallen on hard times, opened its doors to Kenyan travelers and tourists. Many Kenyans flocked to social media to ridicule the move because, before that, the Giraffe Center only bothered to market itself to international tourists.
Some Kenyans said they had been turned away in favor of international tourists, so they wouldn’t dare step foot in the place.
Unfortunately, this is a popular trend, where industry players prioritize international tourists at the expense of domestic ones. It causes potential domestic tourists to boycott tourism.
Significant efforts should go into sensitizing industry players to go out of their way to attract domestic and intra-regional travelers.
That will make the industry more resilient because domestic tourists can keep the industry going even when international tourists fall off. Covid-19 proved that international tourists are not a guarantee!
Takeaway
The theme for this year’s United Nations World Tourism Day was to “provoke tourism destinations and stakeholders around the world to remodel tourism following the devastating impact of Covid-19 in the sector.”
Remodeling does not come without rethinking, and rethinking requires bold solutions. It is time for those bold solutions.
The tourism industry is responsible for 8.8% of the world’s jobs. It would be a shame if East Africa missed out on this revenue because it was not bold enough!
Opportunity Corner: Opportunity For Africans
The D4D Blogging Competition is calling for submissions. The African Union-European Union Digital for Development (D4D) Hub is inviting bloggers from Africa and Europe to participate in a blogging competition on How Africa and Europe can work together to tackle disinformation.
Deadline 7th October 2022
Follow Link to apply.
If this is your first time here, here are a couple of issues that you might have missed.
Are You Traveling Across East Africa? Get Yourself An Airtel Sim Card
Frequently Asked Questions About The East African Community
Dissecting the East African Community’s Customs Union: How Has it Benefited EAC Citizens?
Building and succeeding in Africa: How Safaricom Did It
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