The African tourists could increase their spending significantly in 2020, if they could move more freely within the continent, as per the latest survey report.
The survey was published on Monday by US-based Sabre Corporation, a technology provider to the travel industry of the world, interviewed about 5,000 people across Kenya, Nigeria and SA. They were questioned whether in the last 24 months they had travelled by plane, to which 26% said they had — a 2% increase on Sabre’s similar 2016 study.
Nevertheless, those who did travel said that different barriers were stopping them from travelling more often. The maximum people said that air travel was pretty costly but many also mentioned that problem in obtaining visas and booking flights, delays, queues at airports, and a stressful travel experience in overall were the reasons they don’t travel much.
Of late, SA’s former tourism minister, Derek Hanekom, stated that the free movement of people all over Africa, the simplified or dropping of visa requirements and the deregulation of air services will be the main driving force behind the growth of the tourism on the continent.
In his state of the nation address in February, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that SA was interested in doubling its foreign tourist arrivals from 10.5-million to 21-million by 2030. SA has the biggest travel and tourism in Africa, contributing about R426bn in 2018 to the local economy.
According to research by the World Travel and Tourism Council, the sector is responsible for 1.5-million jobs, or 9.2% of total employment in SA.
Tags: Africa without visa, tourists
