Africa’s tourism industry on the rebound
Following the COVID-19 pandemic crisis that left the tourism industry across the continent on the brink of collapse, the sector is said to be on the rebound, according to the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
The latest UNWTO data shows international arrivals across Africa were back to 88% of pre-pandemic levels at the end of the first quarter of this year with North Africa performing particularly strongly. In this particular sub-region, arrivals were 4% higher than the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 in the same period.
At the global level, international tourism receipts reached US$1 billion in 2022, a 50% growth in real terms compared to 2021. Among African destinations with available data, Morocco and Mauritius notably exceeded their 2019 tourism receipts in the first quarter of 2023.
These findings were shared at a recent high-level meeting in Mauritius which was convened from July 26-28 by the UNWTO. The 66th regional meeting which was held under the theme: ‘Rethinking Tourism in Africa’ provided ministers and senior officials from the continent a platform to share knowledge, ideas, and good practices for building a resilient tourism sector.
Source: THE INDEPENDENT