A

Africa, tourism

Joao Sarmento1,2 and Bradley Rink3

1University of Minho, Guimaraes, Portugal2University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal3Department of Geography, Environmental

Studies & Tourism, University of the Western

Cape, Bellville, South Africa

▶Africa is the second largest continent

(30 million km2) with 26,000 km of coastline

(Fig. 1). It is also the second most populated

continent with approximately one billion inhabi-

tants unevenly distributed over 54 sovereign

states.

Africa has been viewed as an exotic, distant,

and challenging destination based on early

colonial and missionary forays into the “dark

continent.” Besides exoticism, the continent’s

main appeals are its great diversity of natural

landscapes and cultural richness. One of the

principal tourism products is the safari—“to

travel” in Kiswahili, and that in its nineteenth

century roots meant a hunt for animals in

the wild.

History of tourism in Africa

Tourism development in the continent emerged

in tandem with the nineteenth-century colonial-

ism. ▶Egypt, ▶Morocco, ▶Tunisia, ▶Kenya,

▶ South Africa, ▶Swaziland, and ▶Zambia all

experienced early development, mostly based on

the desires of European and North American

tourists. Africa’s imagery was connected to

imperial explorations and expansion, the con-

struction of “the native,” and in the Maghreb

with notions of orientalism. Up to the 1950s,

tourism growth was dependent on the limited

ownership of automobiles by the white

“European” elite, with unreliable road networks

being nonetheless promoted by automobile

clubs established in the early twentieth century

(Pirie 2013).

From the 1930s, with the development of

▶ aviation networks from colonial centers of

▶ power in ▶Europe, ▶ air transport became an

important channel for tourism growth (Pirie

2009). However even today, air transport is

perceived as a major constraint to Africa’s tour-

ism development. High airfares and inconve-

nient, unsafe, and insufficient service of

scheduled and charter services are common prob-

lems in many countries.

Growth and development

After Morocco’s and Tunisia’s independence in

the 1950s and later of Kenya and ▶Tanzania,

tourism was viewed as a “passport to develop-

ment,” and ▶ nature tourism assumed an impor-

tant role. During the 1990s, South African

tourism grew considerably (94 % between 1990

# Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

J. Jafari, H. Xiao (eds.), Encyclopedia of Tourism,DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_230-3

and 2002) and continued into the twenty-first

century with mega-events and growth

in convention-oriented ▶ business tourism.

Today, safari remains a centerpiece of tourism

products in ▶Botswana, Kenya, South Africa,

Tanzania, and Zambia, and trans-frontier▶wild-

life tourism is expected to be a successful formula

(Hottola 2009). On the other hand, ▶ island

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800 Miles

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803715AI (G00392) 4-14

AFRICA

Boundary representation isnot necessarily authoritative.

Azimuthal Equal-Area Projection

Scale 1:51,400,000

Africa, tourism, Fig. 1 Map of Africa

2 Africa, tourism

tourism has also registered sustained above aver-

age growth in countries like ▶Cape Verde

(27 %), Reunion (12 %), and ▶Seychelles

(11 %). In 2009, 31 % of international tourists

were Europeans, 43 % were Africans, and only

4 % were from the ▶Americas (UNWTO 2011).

The main entry points are located in ▶ South

Africa, the resorts of Egypt and Tunisia, Casa-

blanca, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, and Lagos. Road

and ▶ rail networks at continental scale are inad-

equate, as they are at a national and regional scale

in many countries. Port facilities are insufficient.

While major international events such as the

FIFAWorld Cup soccer tournament have spurred

development in South Africa, other African

countries have experienced far lesser tourism

infrastructure investment.

Tourism is highly concentrated on a few des-

tinations: South Africa (29 %) and Morocco

(22 %) contribute about half of the total number

of international arrivals. In 2012, the region

enjoyed 52.4 million tourists (almost doubled

since 2000), and the latest ▶UNWTO forecasts

that arrivals will increase from 85 million in 2020

to 134 million in 2030. One out of every 11 jobs

comes from the tourism industry. Despite the

positive development of the past years, Africa

accounts for only 5 % of global tourism and for

3 % of receipts, which amounted to US$ 1 billion(this figure was more than trebled since 2000). In

2012 the total contribution to GDP increased to

9 % and to 7.1 % of total employment (WTTC

2013). Tourism in North Africa, one of the most

important regions in the continent (33 % of all

international arrivals), has suffered a sizeable

decline since the Arab Spring of 2011. Tunisia

has been the most affected country in the region,

with a loss of 31 % of international tourists from

2010 to 2011.

Several international and regional bodies such

as UNWTO Commission for Africa, African

Tourism Organization (sub-Saharan African non-

profit organization formed in 2004), RETOSA

(Regional Tourism Organization of Southern

Africa), and NEPAD (New Partnership for

Africa’s Development) are concerned with tour-

ism in the continent. Policies and strategies are

mostly developed at a national level and tend to

mirror neoliberal development agendas that

underline the role of the private sector and global

competitiveness. These policies need to be fur-

ther articulated with the sectorial policies,

namely, education, nature conservation, health,

and information and communication

technologies.

Future prospects

Future tourism facilitation measures should focus

on improving ▶ tourist mobility through expe-

dited visa procedures, cross-border development

projects, and community involvement in tourism

development (Dieke 2000). Africa’s tourism

potential is dependent largely on both regional

economic development and advances in aviation

technology, allowing for more cost-efficient and

thus growing air access to (and within) the conti-

nent. Harnessing the potential of tourism in

Africa as a developmental tool also requires edu-

cation and skills training for the provision of

quality tourism services. Prospects of a growing

middle class due to broad-based economic

growth underpin prospects for regional tourism

growth based on inter-African tourism.

Perhaps due to Africa’s diversity and size,

most studies have been conducted at national or

regional scale (East, Southern, and North Africa),

with a strong predominance of studies related to

South Africa and to a lesser degree to Southern

Africa. Concerns over sustainability in tourism

call for more research with respect to managing

tourism growth in Africa while at the same time

mitigating its potentially negative impacts. Many

topics, such as inter-African tourism and gender

inequality, are under-researched.

See also ▶Conservation, ▶ cultural tourism,

▶ development,▶ safari tourism,▶ sociocultural

change.

References

Dieke, P., ed. 2000 The Political Economy of Tourism

Development in Africa. New York: Cognizant.

Africa, tourism 3

Hottola, P., ed. 2009 Tourism Strategies and Local

Responses in Southern Africa. Wallingford: CABI.

Pirie, G. 2009 Incidental Tourism: British Imperial

Air Travel in the 1930s. Journal of Tourism History

1:49-66.

Pirie, G. 2013 Automobile Organizations Driving Tour-

ism in Pre-independence Africa. Journal of Tourism

History 5:73-91.

UNWTO, 2011, The Tourism Market in Africa. Madrid:

World Tourism Organization.

WTTC 2013 Travel and Tourism. Economic Impact 2013.

London: World Travel and Tourism Council.

4 Africa, tourism