Many countries in Africa have intensified efforts to boost their travel and tourism sector through partnerships with tour operators, airlines, hotels, social media influencers among others.
In this special report, Nosa Aituamen tells us efforts being made by Nigeria and Ghana in this regard and the challenges that must be addressed to achieve 100% success.
Efforts by many Africa countries to boost the travel and tourism industry is paying off with different marketing strategies on special offers on flight tickets, discounts on hotel accommodation, pickups on arrival, cuisines, beautiful beaches and nature to explore.
Both leisure and business tourists are jumping at these offers.
The market has continued to grow with information of new destinations and attractions continually uploaded to woo tourists through digital technologies as explained by Prof. Eunice Amissah of the University University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
“Causing increase and varieties and volumes of tourism products, services and experiences”.
Social media influencers and tour operators, Ms. Shirley Osei-Owusu and Mr. Eugene Allotey emphasised the importance of digitalisation in travel and tourism recovery after the COVID Pandemic.
“When you go online anybody can see it within your country and beyond your country…Osei-Owusu
“It is very, very straight forward to attract quite a large number of people”..Allotey.
Apart from the effects of the pandemic on tourists, worse hit were countries which mainstay is dependent on the industry to bolster their economies and support millions of local jobs.
According to statistics, before the global lockdown, 68.8 million people came to Africa as tourists in 2019.
These tourists and their spending power contributed to 6.8% of Africa’s GDP and 25.48 million jobs to the continent.
However, by the time the pandemic hit, almost 6 million jobs and $86 billion had been wiped out in Africa.
In the United Nations World Tourism Organization, UNWTO report on ‘Tourism Set to Return to Pre- Pandemic Levels in Some Regions in 2023’ it was stated, among others that Europe reached nearly 80% of pre-pandemic arrivals whiles Africa and America reached 65% of pre-pandemic levels.
The Deputy Executive Officer Operations, Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Ekow Sampson said to increase the fortunes of the industry in Africa would require collaborative efforts which Nigeria has started.
“Nigeria is a major source market as far as Ghana’s tourism is concerned and continues to play a vital role in Ghana’s tourism business. Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire and Liberia remain among the top ten arrival countries, with about 9.5%, 1.8% and 1.6% of total annual arrivals respectively in Ghana.”
While collaboration is key, stakeholders say the major challenge is ease of movement.
A travel tourism ambassador, Mr. Ikechi Uko and the first Ghanaian pilot to fly the Airbus A380, Captain Solomon Quinoo say having a free visa entry to attract more tourists and seamless air connectivity should be encouraged.
“We need to talk to our leaders that there needs to be a lot of work at the policy level”…Uko.
“And try and link the rest of Africa”..Quinoo.
In line with this, Nigeria has started with the introduction of the Visa-on-Arrival, VOA, while Ghana recently cancelled the filling of forms at the airports as explained by the Acting Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service NIS Mrs. Wura-Ola Adepoju and Mr. Seth Baah of the Ghana Tourism Authority.
“The visa-on-arrival is to remove the bureaucratic bottlenecks in facilitating and attracting people”…Adepoju
Baah: “About two months ago, Ghana Immigration Service through Ghana Civil Aviation Authority announced the cancellation of filling of embarkation and disembarkation forms by travelers at the Kotoka International Airport”.
To drive tourism, collaboration with private investors and tourism stakeholders is crucial in attracting investment, developing infrastructure and implementing marketing strategies.
In addition, government must continue to invest in improving the country’s infrastructure to support tourism.
These include expanding and upgrading airports, seaports, and roads to enhance connectivity and facilitate the movement of tourists.
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