Tourism development in the COMESA region

Preamble

Tourism, by its pervasive nature plays a significant role in the economies of most African countries with its contribution to all sectors of the economy. It is indeed one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the last century. Notwithstanding the global financial crisis, all indications are that tourism will maintain this position in the current millennium. Every year, a bigger portion of the world population become tourists and for the majority of countries, tourism has developed into one of the most dynamic, and fast-growing sectors of the economy.

The continent is one of the few regions around the world still enjoying growth in international tourist arrivals. According to UNTWO statistics, Africa enjoyed a 5% growth translating to 47 million visitors in 2008, and still has to gain momentum in this sector and impact significantly on economic growth.

According to the World travel Tourism Council (WTTC) Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world, accounting for 9.9% of world GDP in 2008 and with projections of 10.5% in 2018. In real money terms, tourism GDP contribution in 2008 totalled US$5,890 billion. The impact on Africa was even greater with travel and tourism contributing to 7.9% in 2008 creating 10 million jobs.

With the onset In spite of the global economic downturn, Africa is becoming an increasingly important investment destination, and tourism continues to play its part as a significant contributor to the individual country’s GDP. With a wealth of natural resources including minerals, oil, attractions the fundamentals driving natural resource demand will remain in place, hence driving the impetus for growth.



However, in spite of all these endowments, the region is fraught with many challenges which hinder progress, i.e. political instability, bureaucratic constraints, infrastructure development, accessibility (air, road, rail), Press Freedom, Information Communication technology & telecommunications, human capital development as well as differing rates of economic development resulting in different priorities between the more stable economies in the region and the growing economies.

Infrastructure Development

This encompasses road, rail and air access. Access to the destinations is hindered by lack of comprehensive infrastructure. The majority of governments within COMESA have insufficient financing for construction, expansion and refurbishment of these facilities though they are pivotal to increasing tourist arrivals in the regions. In order to improve this situation, there is need for government to ease the regulations and policies governing development in these areas. Because of inadequate funding, government must create an enabling environment for public private partnerships to drive infrastructure development initiatives.

Accessibility: Air

From a global context, COMESA forms part of the travel and tours circuit to Africa with air transfers playing a critical role. However, seat capacity and market access restriction is a major constraint to growth of tourism in the region. The Yamoussoukro Declaration in 1988 and later decision of 1999 was made to deregulate the airlines industry in Africa. The skies were declared “open” for African nations in order to create more effective access opportunities in the travel industry as well as to increase competition with the aim of bringing increased competition, expand service, increase efficiency, have low fares and increase volume. However, governments in Africa have maintained strict regulations on the airline industry to protect their national airlines eliminating free market competition and ultimately increasing the cost of travel resulting in reduced demand for the destination between member countries.

Accessibility: Road

Road access is an integral part of access within the COMEASA region but travel by road is hampered by roads in an unsatisfactory condition exacerbated by congestion at the major border posts such as Beitbridge, which is one of the busiest road port hubs in sub-Saharan Africa. The same can be said of other ports including Victoria Falls and Kazungula to name a few. These border posts are gateways to other countries in the region from both a trade perspective and leisure perspective.

Initiatives such as the Uni-visa and COMESA Customs union will go a long way in alleviating some of these delays characterizing our borders. However bureaucratic processes continue to hinder progress in these initiatives. A case in point is the Uni-visa for the SADC region which was mooted in 1998, and was supposed to be operational in 2002, but 7 years later, has still not been implemented.
Expedited implementation of the Comesa Customs Union will decrease Africa’s dependence on aid, enabling member states to rely on trade in order to achieve economic growth. COMESA, with 19 member states and annual trade amounting to US$230 bn, still lags behind at realized earnings of $15.2 billion. The combined potential that exists as a result of the overlap in membership by countries in both COMESA with 400 million people and SADC with 233 million people underpins the enormous potential of these two regions to become a significant player globally in trade and tourism with proper management and enabling policies. The implementation of the Customs Union will also play a big role in intra regional trade.

Accessibility: Rail

Rail is the cheapest form of travel globally as evidenced in Europe. Rail travel in the COMESA region has not been exploited enough to take advantage of the potential traffic between countries from both a leisure and business perspective. There are few players in this market in COMESA, namely Rovos Rail, Chongololo and the Blue Train. The potential to incorporate other players is huge as is the capacity of increased inter-country travel.

Press Freedom

With the world becoming a global village, information dissemination through the press plays a critical role in destination marketing through this medium. Regrettably, COMESA has a considerable number of countries where press freedom is highly regulated and hampered by repressive media regulatory instruments. Safe regulatory processes for the media are an imperative in attaining press freedom. International media houses presence should be allowed in the region as they can play a positive part in shaping opinions and influencing destination choices globally.

Information Communication Technology (ICT)/Telecommunications

Access to technology and ICT is paramount for tourism growth in this global era. The convenience of information and cost effective travel is absolutely necessary in influencing the choice to visit a destination. Regrettably, Africa is still heavily reliant on telephone communications and is plagued by slow internet and obsolete technology due to inadequate funding to upgrade these facilities. It is critical for governments to facilitate and support telecommunication upgrades as they are vital in the modern communication era.

This includes increasing of band width to enable access and increase speed of internet access. Implementation of wireless internet as well as telecommunications that support GPRS are but examples of tools that are essential for travellers to access destination information as well as to provide convenience for inbound travellers.

The use of current trends in ICT such as social networks like Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, and Skype are imperative is a destination is to remain relevant to the modern traveller. Social networks are a rich source of information on a country and its products. In addition to all the other means of communication, they also influence trends and enable countries and businesses to learn about their audience thereby largely enabling them to adjust to customer needs and preferences.

Human Capital Development

Skills development and investment in human capital development is critical to the economic development of a country. Technical skills are even more important in driving tourism in Africa as the guest experience in the hospitality sector is a major decision maker in return business to a destination. In the COMESA and SADC region there are limited facilities that offer such training, with the bulk in South Africa, but from a COMESA perspective, only Zimbabwe and Kenya have between them a few Hospitality training schools.

With the potential growth in tourism in Africa, this area is critical to enable us to provide the guest with a memorable experience encompassing attractions and service delivery. In this light, governments should play a key role in supporting the increase in capacity of such tertiary institutions. It is also important for these institutions to form synergies for accreditation with world renowned institutions offering the same training. Courses offered should be recognized worldwide and encompass all aspects of training ranging from Chefs, Game Guides, House Keeping, Languages, Front office and Management.

Room Capacity

Africa’s development in accommodation has been stagnant due to government policies and lack of shared vision between the private and public sectors. The forecast of increased arrivals in Africa is real if the statistics of projected growth of 10.5 % contribution to GDP by tourism by 2018 globally are indicators, there is a real need for increased accommodation capacity. A case in point is the upcoming 2010 World Cup Soccer taking place in South Africa. This event has highlighted the inadequate rooms in Africa and the World Travel and Tourism Council states that Africa requires three times more rooms than are current available. Governments will have to play a more critical role in supporting private public partnerships in increasing capacity, and must do away with government policies that hinder development of the same.

Opportunities

COMESA has a strong resource endowment and ranks highly in tourist attractions, wildlife and flora and fauna. Famous attractions include Mount Kilimanjaro, beaches in Kenya, Namib Dessert, Ngorongoro Crater and the Victoria Falls as well as the Transfrontier Park.



New openings of hotels and resorts as well as mixed use developments within COMESA will play a major developmental role through the potential to bring investors. The resulting infrastructure development will assist with making the attraction accessible and thereby strengthening the status of the region as a tourism destination.

Initiatives such s the Transfrontier Park will open borders and encourage the creation of regional tourism packages. This will increase competition resulting in price competitiveness and a favourable outlook of the region as a value for money destination.

Of greater significance is the trickle down positive effects to downstream industries such as the services industry.

Conclusion

In order to successfully equip the region to attract offshore investment, it is imperative that the above-mentioned policies are adhered to as long term policy consistency is a major attraction for investors across all sectors. Whilst tourism is s a tertiary institution, it can be used to rigger economic growth and economic integration in sub-Saharan Africa because:

• People visit then trade and thereafter they invest


• The immense and diverse attractions in sub-Saharan Africa cannot be ignored for longer


• The desire to make these attractions accessible will give birth to infrastructural development of which the feed into the supply side of the economy will lead to economic growth


• The construction of infrastructure will then necessitate the need for increased accommodation capacity