Tracking growth in travel to Africa

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Travel to Africa in 2014 will remain at the bottom of the global growth rate with just 3 percent, and this figure is largely driven by a strong recovery across the continent’s North African destina

Travel to Africa in 2014 will remain at the bottom of the global growth rate with just 3 percent, and this figure is largely driven by a strong recovery across the continent’s North African destinations in particular to Egypt which has undergone a miraculous transformation to the better again.

Travel to West Africa is in fact expected to reduce, largely as a result of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Guinea and other countries. However, the entire sub-Saharan Africa appears to have suffered from the knock-on effect of the Ebola outbreak, and in East Africa, the downturn in fortunes in Kenya has equally affected the entire region and either lowered forecasts of arrivals or as in Kenya directly led to negative growth.

The Americas are leading in 2014 with over 8 percent more arrivals, while other continents like South Asia with 8 percent, India with 7 – and expected to grow stronger now that many nationalities can obtain visa on arrival – North East Asia with a respectable 7 percent, and Oceania with a 6 percent growth.

Some countries saw double-digit increases like South Korea and Japan while the USA’s and Mexico’s growth was described by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as nothing short than extraordinary.

Globally, over 1.1 billion travelers will have taken to the road, rail, and air, a new overall record, and while the stats will only become available in full in late January 2015, the trend can no longer be shaken.

Africa’s market share in global travel, as a result of the below average growth, has again eroded and while some destinations like Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and South Africa are doing better than average, 2014 has largely been a year of gloom and doom for many of the traditional safari destinations.

Efforts to get data from across Eastern Africa were not successful as tourism bureaucrats and marketers are probably still sitting on them wondering how to explain the trend away.

About the author

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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