By Abdi Ali
Published December 16, 2018
A report that looks at trends in tourism, travel, hospitality and aviation sectors across Africa has been launched.
The second edition of the report by Jumia Travel & Food that specialises in hospitality issues, looks at developments in Africa’s travel and tourism industry in 2017 and 2018, underlining the contribution of the sector to the economy without ignoring underlying challenges and the potential for future growth.
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Africa’s travel and tourism industry hit a 63 million high in international tourist arrivals as compared to 58 million in 2016, The African economy has been gaining momentum, with the real output growth estimated to have increased by 3.8% in 2017 and expected to reach 4.1% by 2018/2019.
Travel and tourism, the report shows, contributed US$177.6 Billion or 8.1% to Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017 and that this growth rate is expected to reach 12% in 2018.
Hospitality is a major employer across Africa, supporting more than 22 million jobs in 2017 and 23 million jobs in 2018.
Sub Saharan breakdown places West Africa at the top of pipeline activity at 48%, followed by East Africa at 29%, South Africa at 19% and Central Africa at 4%.
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As a result of affordability and ease of travel, domestic travel is growing in Africa, recording a high of 60% in local spending as compared to 40% in international spending.
The African Union e-Passport and the creation of visa upon arrival, e-visa and visa-free travel for African citizens in line with the concept of unrestricted movement of persons, goods and services across the countries remains a strong driving factor to the growth of domestic travel. Africans now do not require a visa to travel to 25% of other African countries, can get visas on arrival in 24% of other African countries, while still a dominant 51% of African countries need Africans to have visas to travel.
Some 61% of air travellers are using a smartphone to book their hotel or flight on Jumia Travel. The African traveller still opts to Pay-at-Hotel as the mode of payment (65%) in 2018, even as trust for Credit & Debit Card increases to 21% from 15% in 2017.
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Africa’s air passenger traffic share is expected to grow by 4.9% annually over the next 20 years, creating enormous opportunities for the continent’s airlines to grow.
While Africa’s growing share of international tourist arrivals in the period under review was driven by the continued recovery in Tunisia and Morocco and strong performance in Kenya, Ivory Coast, Mauritius and Zimbabwe, the Jumia Travel Hospitality Report Africa 2018 also shows that island destinations Seychelles, Cabo Verde and Reunion recorded double-digit growth in arrivals.
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