How to revive African tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic :: Mmegi Online

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the global tourism industry contributed US$9.2 trillion or 10.4%, to global GDP. It was considered one of the fastest-growing industries, accounting for at least one in every four new jobs globally. Fast forward to 2021, and the pandemic has all but crippled the sector. Tourism demand – arrivals, travel, and the use of facilities and services – contracted by an estimated 74% in 2020. This has cost the industry upwards of US$1.3 trillion and has compromised millions of jobs.

The African region shed an estimated US$83 billion in GDP contribution (down by 49.2%), and lost up to 7.2 million industry jobs compared to 2019 levels.

The impact of health crises such as SARS, H1N1 and Ebola weren’t on the scale of the disaster brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. This impact was made worse by government interventions to mitigate the spread and effect of the virus.

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