Despite its enormous cultural and natural potential, Africa occupies an unenviable place in the global tourism industry with 31 billion dollars collected in 2018, or 2.9 of global tourism receipts. During that year, worldwide receipts were estimated at over $1.342 billion.
This is one of the main information delivered at the opening of the first edition of the World Tourism Organization's World Forum on Investment in Africa, this Thursday, February 20 in Abidjan, in the presence of the Ivorian Vice-President, Daniel Kablan Duncan, and Zurab Pololikashvili, UNWTO Secretary General.
The African continent is the fourth tourist destination in the world accounting for only 5% of the 1.400 billion international tourists registered in 2018, far behind Europe, the first destination with 51%, followed by Asia-Pacific, 24% and the Americas. 16%.
“For the countries of the South, tourism can be an engine of growth capable of promoting the development of the economy and a better standard of living for the populations. However, it is important for the various countries to meet environmental, economic or financial requirements, otherwise the positive effects of tourist activities for society will be canceled out,” says Daniel Kablan Duncan, Vice-President of Côte d'Ivoire.

Unanimously among stakeholders and observers, Africa is faced with a lack of funding for the tourism industry and lack of investment in the sector. But many other challenges also face it to strengthen the competitiveness of tourism and gain significant shares of the global dividends obtained from this economic activity.
“The support of government authorities is essential for the formulation and adoption of clear, coordinated sectoral strategies to tackle market failures that hinder tourism, create an environment conducive to private investment, provide infrastructure for promote the country in terms of marketing and investment and, more than anything else, bring political and social stability,” said Siandou Fofana, Ivorian Minister of Tourism and Leisure.
For Abdoul Karim SANGO, Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism of Burkina Faso and also Vice-President of the Africa Commission of the World Tourism Organization, the development of the sector remains hampered by numerous bottlenecks.
"The growing insecurity which annihilates the promotional efforts made by our States and operators in the sector, the insufficient and excessively expensive international and continental air service, the low quality of tourist products and services very often linked to a lack of training in trades in the sector constitute handicaps", he specifies.
The first Global Forum of the World Tourism Organization on Investment in Africa should provide significant answers to all these questions to remove these obstacles and allow real tourism development on the African continent.