UNWTO members meet to rethink agenda for African tourism

PORT LOUIS – Tourism leaders from across Africa have met to rethink and realign the sector’s role as a driver of development and opportunity across the region.

At the 66th meeting of the UNWTO Regional Commission for Africa, Member States joined representatives from international organisations and the private sector to focus on opportunities around tourism jobs and investments while also recognising the vital need to address challenges including the climate crisis.

According to the latest UNWTO data, tourism across Africa is returning to strength following the unprecedented crisis caused by the pandemic.

International arrivals across Africa were back to 88 percent of pre-pandemic levels at the end of the first quarter of this year.

At the sub-regional level, North Africa is performing particularly strongly. Here, arrivals were actually 4 percent higher than the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 in the same period.

Globally international tourism receipts reached US$ 1 billion in 2022, a 50 percent growth in real terms compared to 2021. Among African destinations with available data, Morocco and Mauritius notably exceeded their 2019 tourism receipts in the first quarter of 2023.

Welcoming delegates, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “The UNWTO Agenda for Africa has been adapted. Our vision for African tourism is also one of strong governance, more education and more and better jobs. To achieve it, we aim to promote innovation, advocate for Brand Africa, facilitate travel, and unlock growth through investment and public-private partnerships.

UNWTO welcomed delegations from 33 countries, including 22 Ministers of Tourism, ambassadors to the meeting, the most important annual event for the region’s Member States.

Reflecting the high level of political support for the event, and for UNWTO’s mission to guide tourism development across Africa, the meeting welcomed the attendance of the Prime Minister Republic of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, as well as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism, Mauritius, and Vice-Chair of the UNWTO Executive Council Steven Obeegadoo.

Also in attendance were the African Union Commissioner for Trade and Development, Albert Muchanga, the Secretary-General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa [COMESA], Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, the Secretary-General of the Commonweath, Patricia Scotland KC, Special Advisor to the UNWTO Secretary-General Lai Mohammed, UN Resident Coordinator for Mauritius and Seychelles Lisa S. Singh, the Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme[(UNDP] Amanda Seumaga, and representatives from the African Development Bank, the World Bank, and from IFEMA and the Tui Care Foundation.

https://thecooperator.news/international-tourism-back-to-60-percent-of-pre-pandemic-levels-unwto/

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