Independent tourism and hospitality industry consultant, Gillian Saunders, who presented the ATW Trend Report 2022 on Monday (April 11), was upbeat about the prospects for recovery for the tourism sector. She said 2022 was an exciting year for tourism.
In 2019, tourism accounted for 7% of Africa’s GDP, contributing US$169 billion (R2,45 trillion) to the continent’s economy and employing more than 24 million people.
But COVID-19 saw Africa’s tourism sector lose nearly US$55 billion (R800 billion) and shed two million jobs in only the first three months (April to July 2020), according to the African Union.
However, noted Saunders, Africa’s tourism sector is resilient. “The drive to travel and experience different cultures, climates and environments is innate, and the extent of travel’s rebound is testimony to this. Tourism will recover,” she said.
Saunders added however that policy makers needed to create an enabling environment for recovery, highlighting that the sector needed to get governments to truly understand how important tourism was in ensuring overall economic growth of a country.
To download the full ATW Trend Report 2022, click here.
The top 10 trends highlighted in the report are:
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Greenwashing won’t cut it anymore: Greater transparency. More accountability.
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African cuisine will take its place at the global table: Mouth-watering African cuisine speaks for itself… but the African tourism industry must do its part to prepare potential tourists for African gastronomy and to create excitement around it.
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Diversity: ‘The diversity traveller’ emerges — people with needs beyond the nuclear couple or family, such as single women travelling alone, single-parent families etc.
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Accessibility will be a game changer for tourism: Tourism environments and services will need to be designed with different access requirements in mind.
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Luxury is no longer about money: It’s about time and wellness. Travelling with purpose, meaningful experiences, bucket-list destinations and itineraries, and exclusive escapes (travel bubbles and remote locations away from the crowds) are the main luxury travel trends we’ll see in Africa.
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Travel bubbles: The pandemic may be largely behind us, but ‘travel bubbles’ are here to stay with a marked increase in demand for multigenerational trips. Africa is ideally positioned to tap into this exciting trend.
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From over-tourism to impact tourism: Restorative safaris that make a positive impact on conservation and communities will become more popular, as will intimate and authentic experiences.
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Slow tourism is coming of age: People are taking longer trips with fewer stops, the coming of age of what has been coined ‘slow tourism’.
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Flexcation, bleisure, workcation − the workforce of tomorrow: Employees are now insisting on a more flexible workplace with a renewed focus on work-life balance. This new trend is creating incredible opportunities for destinations in Africa.
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Tech and human connection go hand-in-hand: Most of us have forgotten how to live – and travel – without technology. The pandemic has accelerated our adoption of technology even further.
