The growth of the African continent’s travel and tourism contribution to GDP is expected to slow down to 20.5 % in 2022 and is forecast to return to 2019 levels in 2024.

This is according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Economic Impact 2022 report released earlier this week. The report highlights that in the next decade, the sector is estimated to grow at an average annual rate of 6.8%. It is also expected to create 14 million new jobs in the region by 2032.

In her opening statement to the report, WTTC President and CEO, Julia Simpson, said: “While government support has been instrumental throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the swift recovery of the sector will only be possible if leaders work together and provide clear and consistent rules. Governments need to focus on co-existing with COVID-19 while enhancing preparedness for future crises, offering safe travel experiences, supporting equitable vaccine distribution and continuing to ease the conditions of entry to destinations.”

Economic contribution

The report highlighted that, in 2021, the travel and tourism sector in Africa started recovering from the devastating impact of the pandemic as its contribution to the region’s total economy grew by 23.5%, increasing from US$97 billion in 2020 to US$119 billion in 2021.

Simpson said this rate of recovery was faster than that of both the region’s overall economy (5.8%) and the world’s travel and tourism sector (21.7%). This growth resulted in an improvement in the sector’s share of economic GDP, which increased from 3.8% in 2020 to 4.4% in 2021. 

The growth recorded was faster in North Africa (26.8%) than in Sub-Saharan Africa (21.7%). 

Job losses and gains

In 2020, 5.8 million travel and tourism jobs on the continent were lost due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions. In 2021, travel and tourism jobs in the region increased by 8.2% — supporting 21.3 million jobs. 

Spend

The growth rate of spending by domestic travellers outpaced that of international travellers (39.4% vs 11.3%) and therefore, the share of international spending in the total internal Travel & Tourism spending for the region declined from 44% in 2019 to 28% in 2021. 

The contrast between the rebound in spend by domestic travellers and by international travellers was quite stark in South Africa because the country was subjected to travel bans and quarantine requirements by other nations following the identification of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in November. 

While revenue from domestic visitors increased by 47.2%, revenue from international visitors fell by 40.4%.