ADDIS ABABA: The tourism industry created employment opportunities for over 21 million people in Africa, the African Union (AU) said on Monday.
The AU revealed in a statement on Monday that the tourism industry’s share in the total workforce of the African continent has also reached 6.5 percent. “The value of the industry now stands at over 160 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for almost 8 percent of GDP, thus exceeding the contributions from manufacturing and banking sectors,” the statement quoted Amani Abou-Zeid, AU Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy, and Tourism, as saying.
“That is why we are making sure it (the tourism sector) takes its due place,” Abou-Zeid stressed. She, however, noted that the African continent should work in the promotion of the tourism sector by developing better tourism promotion strategies, improvement of Africa’s image and branding tourism in the continent.
“Our priority on the continent now should be to optimize the role of tourism based on the agenda NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development)/AU action plan,” she said. “As flagship projects of AU Agenda 2063, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and the Continental Free Trade Area are first steps and an excellent opportunity for boosting the tourism sector in Africa,” the commissioner underscored.
Abou-Zeid further stressed the need to do various tasks and forging a new partnership among AU and other organizations that include AU members states to “make Africa the preferred destination through the creation of a unique “Brand Africa.”