In 2014, Africa received 56 million international tourists, up from 26 million in the year 2000, while international tourism receipts in Africa amounted to some US$36 billion or seven per cent of all exports on the continent.
These are staggering figures and very encouraging, by all standards, as it points to the fact that tourism must be given serious attention by governments. But, alas, government after government in Africa has failed to prioritise the sector to garner its full potential.
Besides being one of the continent’s most promising sectors in terms of development, the growth of tourism and the capacity of the sector to develop are often hindered by the negative perceptions the continent receives in the world’s media, including the incessant generalisation of crisis situations in one region as being of the whole continent.
This is unfortunate for a sector that represents a major opportunity to foster inclusive development, increase the region’s participation in the global economy and generate revenues for investment in other activities, including environmental preservation.
Strategies on its reversal, thus, formed the basis for the latest regional conference of the United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) on the theme; ‘Enhancing Brand Africa - Fostering Tourism Development’ with CNN’s ‘Bringing Africa's Stories to the World,’ held in Ghana’s capital, Accra, last week.
Aimed at building capacity to manage a strong continental image and brand, the conference was attended by several leading practitioners in the industry from across Africa, as well as ministers of the sector from Cameroon and host country Ghana, and also the Secretary General of UNWTO himself, Dr Taleb Rifai, who hammered on knowledge-sharing and technology as a tourism game-changer, and the importance of roping in the youth.
Over the three days, the conference tried to analyse the situation of ‘Brand Africa’ and its impact on tourism in the region against the global economy. It sought to identify the key challenges facing ‘brand Africa’ and that of individual countries within the continent, exchange national experiences on country branding and tourism branding and explore how African destinations can successfully build a strong brand in an increasingly competitive marketplace and a constantly changing business environment.
The changing narrative and media
After all the deliberations, it became clear that ‘the narrative has to change’. That change begins with us Africans ourselves. We have to find, highlight and promote our success stories more. We must lead in the narrative about our own. We need to package the stories and information we want the world to know about our continent, our countries, our communities and our people in a more cohesive and concise manner! We must set the agenda and highlight our undertakings – our traditions, our food, our music, our folklore and our dance.
Today’s travellers, it emerged, are people looking for a variety of experiences as opposed to people who just want to see new things. Today’s travellers want to design their own experiences. They want to be able to tell a story when they return home, in an animated fashion and not in static pictures of a seaside or mountain or beautiful rock formation. Those exist everywhere. What does not, are the stories, the narratives in which they themselves fit in the tales.
Today, everyone who is able to use a device they own themselves to snap a photo, or write a 140-character message, click it and share it with people from across the globe is part of the media.
Traditionally, the media landscape has changed, and this is what collectively, we must understand and appreciate as a people. That, every citizen has a story to tell, and quite easily these days, these stories can be told to a countless number of people all over the world instantly by just a click of a button on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
And more importantly, we learned that we have to tell the stories as they are, without having to sanitise them. We are who we are, and those who want to experience us, need to know this is who we are.
Indeed, they want to share us as we are, and we are not a backward people. Today’s Africa includes very much a huge urban scene, which tends to be ignored. It exists; urban Africa is just as much part of the African narrative as the bush or woodland in which safari game is found.
Someone mentioned that on Instagram, fashion is the third highest information/photos shared by Africa’s youth. This is the reality, this is our Africa as defined by the future, our youth, who represent some 70 per cent of Africa’s current population. They are interested in fashion, clubbing and food. If we ignore this, we lose the plot!
Brands, not commodities
Destinations must become brands and not just commodities. Commodities fade as value gets added, brands do not. The pictures have been taken of Tarzan, now what? The next stage is to create the situation for everyone to be Tarzan for a day, an hour or a few minutes. That is the story!
African destinations must bring their ‘economic’ value into their conversations and it is important to position them through defined strategies in order to retain them on the top of the mind of the traveller who is constantly shopping for new experiences.