Last week’s Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge (AYTISC) highlighted that youth in Africa would play the biggest role in the contribution and development of tourism on the continent in the future.
Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 60% under the age of 25, and the proportion of young people is expected to grow in the decades ahead. Furthermore, tourism generates one in ten of the world’s jobs, representing an important catalyst for job creation and a window of opportunity for innovation and digitalisation.
“Such a high number of young people is an opportunity for the continent’s growth – but only if these new generations are fully empowered to realise their best potential. It is thus especially important that young people are included in the decision-making processes and given appropriate opportunities and proper means to work and innovate the tourism sector,” said Regional Director for Africa at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Elcia Grandcourt.
The AYTISC had been organised by Africa Tourism Partners (ATP), and CEO Kwakye Donkor believes the summit provides a platform for youth and older generations to come together to share and exchange knowledge, ultimately creating a more inclusive tourism industry.
“If you look at global travel, youth is the future. In Africa, we need to have high levels of inclusivity, and that includes the youth. The initiative of creating this platform is to bring Africa youth together to share knowledge, to learn from each other, and to possibly do business. In this way we can increase employability.
“The Summit provides opportunities for mentorship and guidance through various career guidance and career clinics. The whole idea is to get the young to learn from the old. To listen to the knowledge from adults who have the experience so that they can apply them where they want to be employed or begin their own start-ups,” Donkor told Tourism Update.
Bringing disruptive ideas
Upskilling, capacity building and training were crucial to leverage the talent of the next generation of professionals, if the industry was to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, added Grandcourt.
“The youth are the ones who will be requested to identify the most impactful and disruptive ideas and solutions in order to tackle the challenges that the world is currently facing. We need to build a new vision for the tourism sector and to contribute in accelerating its recovery process from the impacts and the consequences of the pandemic.”
She further revealed UNWTO’s ‘Agenda for Africa – Tourism for Inclusive Growth’ plan, whereby the organisation places innovation and technology as core priorities for the growth and progress of the continent’s tourism industry.
“It is by working in close collaboration with our Member States and key stakeholders such as ATP (a UNWTO Affiliate Member), academia, and other private-sector stakeholders that we can build a strong and resilient youth who are proud and willing to be part of the transformative development for a sustainable and inclusive tourism sector on the continent.”
Grandcourt added that the UNWTO was strongly committed to driving the digitalisation of tourism by “creating an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that will maximise the potential of the sector”.
Donkor added that platforms like the AYTISC showed that there were opportunities and that progress was being made to cultivate the youth in the tourism sector. However, he stressed that the youth also needed to get “out there” themselves if they were to succeed.
“The youth have to be willing to be active participants in the tourism industry. It is a matter of coming to platforms like this and identifying where the opportunities are. The area of technological advancement remains relatively unexplored in Africa. There are a lot of start-ups on the continent but they do not have the market presence that big brands have. They need people to support and guide them,” Donkor said.
Guidelines for Africa
UNWTO has also released ‘Tourism Doing Business Guidebooks’: strategic publications that evaluate a country’s current investment climate as well as opportunities in its tourism sector.
The investment guidelines aim to promote the value propositions and competitive attributes of tourism destinations, with the ultimate goal of generating investment opportunities and business development in the tourism sector.
“So far, UNWTO has released specific investment guidelines for Tanzania that were officially launched in the framework of the 65th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Africa (CAF) last year in Arusha,” Grandcourt said.
Other African countries to receive guidelines include:
- Mauritius – to be launched during the 66th CAF, July 26-28.
- Mozambique – to be launched during the Global Tourism Investment Forum for Africa.
- Malawi, Zambia, Morocco, Rwanda and Namibia to follow thereafter.
