Tourism has become an important employer in Africa. While in 1995–1998, tourism directly supported 4.5 million jobs, it supported more than 8.8 million jobs in 2011– 2014, according to the latest UNCTAD Economic Development in Africa Report 2017.
It added: “Accounting for the sector’s total contribution to employment, tourism supported more than 21 million jobs in 2011–2014, roughly 1 out of every 14 jobs in Africa, or 7.1 per cent. Job growth, however, slowed during the period under review, from 5.2 per cent per year in 1995–1998, to 2.5 per cent in 2005–2008 and 0.3 per cent in 2011– 2014 (in terms of direct contribution)”.
The recent slowdown may be the result of slower economic growth across the continent due to the end of the commodity boom, as well as the Arab Spring and the Ebola health crisis affecting the tourism industry in Africa.
The report titled – ‘Tourism for Transformative and Inclusive Growth’ noted: “The scale of involvement of women in tourism in Africa is significant, in line with global trends”.
Global figures suggest that women make up approximately half of all jobs in the hotels and restaurants sector (UNWTO and UN Women, 2011).This trend is replicated in Africa as about 47 per cent of hotel and restaurant employees are women.
Mali reported the highest female participation of all 172 countries surveyed by UNWTO, with women accounting for 82 per cent of all hotel and restaurant employment. With the exception of Northern Africa, the hotels and restaurants sector is an important employer for women in Africa and hence can contribute to more inclusive growth.
The percentage of hotel and restaurant jobs held by women in African countries for which data were available in at least one year between 2000 and 2012. For the sector to flourish, investments in tourism are required.
Available data show that investment in tourism grew strongly from the year 2000 up to the financial crisis and reached an average of $26 billion in the 2011–2014 period, 1.8 per cent of GDP.
Tourism capital investment includes capital investment spending by all industries directly involved in travel and tourism. This also comprises investment spending by other industries on specific tourism assets such as new visitor accommodation, passenger transport equipment, restaurants and leisure facilities for specific tourism use.
There is a perception that tourism is a sector that reacts strongly to economic, political, climatic and health crises, such as the financial crisis (2008/09), the Arab Spring (2011) or the recent Ebola outbreak.
The fast rebound of tourist arrivals and expenditures after the financial crisis suggests that the sector can be resilient. The question thus is how stable tourism revenues are in relation to other external inflows and trade flows to the continent.
Tourism revenues appear to be a more stable source of external flows than foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances. Another data show the computed annual growth rates of three capital flows (official development assistance, remittances and FDI net flows) and two trade flows (revenues from commodities and manufactures exports), excluding outliers.
The same exercise was conducted for tourism export revenues and expenditures on international passenger transport. The data series cover the period 1995–2014 and include a sample of 35 African countries for which data are available for the seven variables The coefficient of variation of the annual series of growth rates is computed for each of the African countries in the data set.
Overall, the most inclusive measure of tourism revenues, tourism export revenues, is very stable compared with export revenues (whether manufactures or commodities) FDI and remittances. Of capital inflows, only official development assistance is more stable.
International passenger transport expenditures also have a low coefficient of variation. Thus, both tourism revenues appear to be more stable and resilient to shocks than most other external and trade flows.
The stylized facts on tourism show that the sector has become an important contributor to GDP, employment and exports in Africa, though in recent years its expansion has slowed, and in 2015 the sector likely experienced a decline.
Nonetheless, according to UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council — the two key global tourism institutions — the sector’s outlook for Africa is promising. UNWTO estimates that the number of tourist arrivals to the continent will grow to 134 million by 2030 (UNWTO, 2016a).
With an expected growth rate of 5 per cent between 2010 and 2030, the sector is expected to contribute greatly to the continent’s economic growth. It is forecast that North Africa will remain the major tourist destination, followed by East Africa, while growth in arrivals will be strongest in West and Central Africa (5.9 per cent), followed by East Africa (5.8 per cent).
The World Travel and Tourism Council projects that travel and tourism will grow at 5.1 per cent annually from 2016 to 2026, contributing $121.6 billion by 2026 to Africa’s GDP, earning $77.6 billion in exports and directly supporting over 11 million jobs. Hence, if properly harnessed, tourism could be a driver of economic growth and inclusive development.
African Eye Report
