Africa Received 63 Million International Tourists in 2017

Africa’s travel and tourism industry continues to record impressive growth over the years as the continent hit a 63 million high in international tourist arrivals compared to 58 million in 2016.

The growth record was slightly above the global performance of a 7 percent rise in 2017, to reach a total of 1,323 million international tourist arrivals.

As a result of affordability and ease of travel, domestic travel is growing in Africa, recording a high of 60 percent in local spending as compared to 40 percent in international spending, says the second edition of Jumia’s Africa Hospitality Report.

The increase was driven by the continued recovery in Tunisia and Morocco and strong performance in Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe. Island destinations Seychelles, Cabo Verde and Reunion recorded double-digit growth in arrivals.

The African economy has been gaining momentum, with the real output growth estimated to have increased by 3.8 percent in 2017 and expected to reach 4.1 percent by 2018/2019.

Travel and tourism contributed a total of 8.1 percent to Africa’s GDP in 2017. This percentage is expected to rise by 3.7 percent (to reach 12 percent) in 2018. Moreover, the direct contribution to the GDP stood at 3.3 percent in 2017.

Considered one of the most important economic activities in Africa, travel, and tourism significantly impacted the GDP, by generating USD 37 bn in international visitor expenditure in 2017. The industry is also a major employer in the continent, supporting over 22 million jobs in 2017, approximately 6.5 percent of total employment. These include jobs directly and indirectly supported by the industry and are expected to rise by 3.1 percent in 2018 to 23 million jobs.

The rise of international hotel brands is a key factor in the growth of the hospitality industry. Pipeline activity of 76,322 rooms in 418 hotels have been reported in 2018. Of these, 47,679 rooms in 298 hotels are in Sub Saharan Africa, while North Africa recorded 28,643 rooms in 120 hotels.

Sub Saharan breakdown places West Africa at the top of pipeline activity at 48 percent, followed by East Africa at 29 percent, South Africa at 19 percent and Central Africa at 4 percent respectively.

Accor Hotels, which has a firm footing in Africa recorded double digits on the number of hotels in its pipeline, to reach a 66 percent growth in the number of rooms signed. Ethiopia leads in East Africa with 31 hotels in 2018 up from 20 hotels in 2017. Accor Hotel is stronger in WA and North Africa.

Africa’s air passenger traffic share is only 2.2 percent of the world total and is expected to grow by 4.9 percent annually over the next 20 years.