UNWTO: Rethinking agenda for African Tourism

Journey and Tourism leaders from throughout African continent joined representatives from worldwide organizations and the personal sector on the 66th assembly of the UNWTO Regional Fee for Africa, to concentrate on alternatives round tourism jobs and investments whereas additionally recognizing the important want to handle challenges together with the local weather disaster.

Member States of the Regional Fee for Africa have come collectively to rethink and realign Journey and Tourism sector’s position as a driver of growth and alternative throughout the area.

Tourism in Africa: Bouncing Again

In response to the most recent UNWTO knowledge, tourism throughout Africa is returning to energy following the unprecedented disaster attributable to the pandemic:

Worldwide arrivals throughout Africa have been again to 88% of pre-pandemic ranges on the finish of the primary quarter of this yr.

On the sub-regional degree, North Africa is performing significantly strongly. Right here, arrivals have been truly 4% greater than the pre-pandemic ranges of 2019 in the identical interval.

Globally worldwide tourism receipts reached USD 1 billion in 2022, a 50% development in actual phrases in comparison with 2021. Amongst African locations with out there knowledge, Morocco and Mauritius notably exceeded their 2019 tourism receipts within the first quarter of 2023.

Members meet in Mauritius

UNWTO welcomed delegations from 33 nations, together with 22 Ministers of Tourism, two Deputy Ministers and 4 Ambassadors to the assembly, a very powerful annual occasion for the area’s Member States.

Reflecting the excessive degree of political assist for the occasion, and for UNWTO’s mission to information tourism growth throughout Africa, the assembly welcomed the attendance of the Prime Minister Republic of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, in addition to Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism, Republic of Mauritius, and Vice-Chair of the UNWTO Govt Council Steven Obeegadoo. Additionally in attendance have been the African Union Commissioner for Commerce and Growth, Albert Muchanga, the Secretary-Normal of the Widespread Marketplace for Japanese and Southern Africa (COMESA), Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, the Secretary-Normal of the Commonweath, Patricia Scotland KC, Particular Advisor to the UNWTO Secretary-Normal Lai Mohammed, UN Resident Coordinator for Mauritius and Seychelles Lisa S. Singh, the Resident Consultant of the UN Growth Programme (UNDP) Amanda Seumaga, and representatives from the African Growth Financial institution, the World Financial institution, and from IFEMA and the Tui Care Basis.

Members have been supplied with an outline of UNWTO’s achievements over the previous yr, with a selected concentrate on core priorities for tourism in Africa:

Tourism Investments: UNWTO introduced a brand new set of Funding Pointers for Mauritius, designed to related buyers with tourism initiatives within the nation. The Pointers comply with on from related publications centered on Tanzania, with editions for Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda and Zambia in growth. UNWTO has additionally held two Tourism Funding Boards in Africa.

Gender Equality and Youth Empowerment: With tourism acknowledged for its distinctive skill to drive gender equality and empower African youth, Members have been suggested on the progress of the UNWTO Ladies in Tourism Management for Africa Committee, and the Group’s concentrate on training and coaching. Key achievements embody the Journey Hospitality and Tourism Training Summit (Zambia, Could 2023) and plans to open an Worldwide Academy in Nigeria.

Advocating for ‘Model Africa’: Members have been supplied with an replace on UNWTO’s work to empower African tourism professionals to take cost of the narrative, together with by means of two editions of the Model Africa Assume Tank Dialogue and plans for a UNWTO Media Coaching Workshop.

In shut collaboration with its Member States from throughout the area, UNWTO has additionally up to date its Agenda for Africa – Tourism for Inclusive Progress. The revised roadmap displays the brand new challenges of post-pandemic tourism and the priorities outlined by Members.

Tourism addresses local weather motion

UNWTO continues to steer tourism’s shift to better sustainability, recognizing the influence of maximum climate occasions, together with the potential for warmth waves to chop off the lifeline the sector affords for locations worldwide. In Mauritius, Members got an replace of UNWTO’s work round sustainability, most notably its management of the One Planet Tourism Community and the progress of the Glasgow Declaration on Local weather Motion in Tourism.