Insights from Africa’s Travel Indaba on how tourism is becoming a driver of jobs, investment and regional integration
REGINALD CHAPFUNGA
Every day across Africa, millions of people earn a living because someone decided to travel.
A guide leading visitors through the Okavango Delta. A craft producer selling handmade products in Kigali. A guesthouse owner in Victoria Falls. A fisherman supplying restaurants on the Kenyan coast. A young entrepreneur offering township tours in Johannesburg.
Tourism is often presented through images of wildlife, beaches and luxury resorts. Yet behind every tourist arrival lies a vast economic ecosystem that supports businesses, creates jobs and generates investment.
Increasingly, African governments are recognising tourism not simply as a leisure industry but as a strategic development sector capable of transforming economies and accelerating regional integration.
That shift was evident at Africa’s Travel Indaba 2026 in Durban, South Africa, where tourism leaders, investors, airlines, policymakers and entrepreneurs gathered under the theme “Unlimited Africa: Growing Africa’s Tourism Economy” to discuss what many believe could become one of the continent’s most powerful growth industries in the coming decades.
The conversations that emerged from the three-day gathering pointed to a tourism sector undergoing significant change. Digital technology is reshaping how destinations are marketed. Regional cooperation is making travel easier. Intra-African tourism is growing. And policymakers are increasingly viewing tourism through the lens of economic development rather than visitor numbers alone.
Tourism as a development strategy
For decades, tourism was often treated as a supporting sector within African economies. Today, it is increasingly being positioned as a strategic pillar of growth.
Opening Africa’s Travel Indaba, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa argued that tourism’s true value extends far beyond statistics and hotel occupancy rates.
“Tourism is more than a sector of the economy. It is a living expression of who we are as a people.
“The increases we have seen in tourism figures are not merely of statistical interest. They represent families supported, small businesses revived and communities that are being uplifted.”
His remarks reflected a broader continental trend.
Across Africa, tourism has become one of the few sectors capable of simultaneously generating foreign exchange, creating employment, supporting small enterprises and driving investment into infrastructure. Unlike many industries concentrated in urban centres, tourism often reaches rural communities where economic opportunities are limited.
South Africa welcomed 10.5 million international visitors in 2025, while the sector now supports nearly one million direct jobs. The country’s experience mirrors developments elsewhere on the continent, where governments increasingly see tourism as a practical tool for economic diversification and inclusive growth.
Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille told delegates that the industry had moved beyond recovery following the pandemic years.
“With a record-breaking 10.5 million international arrivals in 2025, we are no longer speaking recovery; we are speaking growth.”
That confidence is being reflected in investment decisions.
South Africa is currently witnessing major tourism-related investments, including the R24 billion expansion of the V&A Waterfront, the R10.5 billion Winelands Airport project and KwaZulu-Natal’s R2.1 billion Club Med Beach and Safari Resort.
“These are demonstrations of confidence in South Africa’s tourism growth prospects,” said De Lille.
Africans are choosing Africa
Perhaps the most important message emerging from this year’s Indaba was not about attracting visitors from Europe, North America or Asia.
It was about Africans travelling within Africa.
Ramaphosa revealed that approximately three-quarters of South Africa’s international arrivals originate from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
“This tells us something important: Africans are choosing Africa.
“When Africans travel within Africa, we strengthen our economies, deepen our cultural ties and build a more integrated continent.”
That simple statement may capture one of the most significant shifts taking place in African tourism.
As air connectivity improves, middle classes expand and regional trade grows, more Africans are travelling for business, leisure, education and cultural exchange. This trend is creating opportunities for destinations that previously depended heavily on long-haul international markets.
The implications extend beyond tourism.
Every flight between African cities, every regional tourism circuit and every simplified border crossing contributes to the broader goals of continental integration embodied in Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Recognising this opportunity, several ministers used the Indaba platform to advocate for easier movement across the continent.
Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Tongai Mafidi Mnangagwa, highlighted the success of the KAZA UniVisa between Zimbabwe and Zambia, which allows visitors to move more freely between the two countries while enhancing regional travel experiences around Victoria Falls.
Meanwhile, South Africa continues to champion the development of a SADC Tourism UniVisa system designed to facilitate seamless regional travel.
For many tourism leaders, reducing travel barriers may be one of the fastest ways to unlock Africa’s tourism potential.
The smartphone is becoming the new travel agent
If regional integration was one defining theme of the Indaba, digital transformation was another.
The tourism industry that emerges over the next decade is likely to look very different from the one that existed before the pandemic.
Technology is rapidly changing how destinations are discovered, marketed and experienced.
During the African Ministers Panel Discussion on a digital future for tourism, leaders from across the continent highlighted how digital innovation is becoming central to competitiveness.
“The future of tourism is increasingly built on mobile phones, digital ecosystems and data intelligence,” said De Lille.
“Africa’s tourism strategy must therefore be mobile-first, digitally intelligent and deeply personalised.”
South African Tourism used the event to showcase Siyanda, an artificial intelligence-powered travel assistant designed to help visitors plan personalised itineraries and access real-time destination information.
Elsewhere, ministers shared examples of how influencers, digital creators and online storytelling are shaping travel decisions.
Eswatini’s Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Jane Mkhonta-Simelane, cited the impact of global content creators in generating international visibility for destinations.
“When you want to reach young people, you go to the digital space.”
The message was clear: future tourism growth will depend not only on roads, airports and hotels but also on digital visibility and online engagement.
Making tourism work for more people
Another recurring theme throughout the Indaba was inclusion.
While tourism continues to grow, questions remain about who benefits from that growth.
At the Women in Tourism Business Breakfast, Deputy Tourism Minister Maggie Sotyu argued that women are already at the centre of Africa’s tourism economy, often without receiving equivalent access to ownership, funding or leadership opportunities.
“Women are not simply participating in tourism – women are building tourism. Women are preserving heritage. Women are sustaining communities. Women are creating jobs. Women are leading innovation.
“Women are building enterprises from villages, townships, cities and coastal communities. And increasingly, women are shaping the future direction of the tourism economy itself.”
She acknowledged that many women-owned enterprises continue to face barriers related to finance, market access and digital inclusion.
“Transformation is not an event. Transformation is a process. And transformation requires deliberate partnerships and sustained commitment.”
Her remarks reflected wider discussions at the Indaba around enterprise development, youth employment, community tourism and tourism transformation initiatives designed to broaden participation across the sector.
The future success of African tourism, delegates argued, will depend not only on growth but on ensuring that growth reaches communities.
Telling Africa’s story
Perhaps the most significant lesson from Africa’s Travel Indaba was the growing confidence with which African destinations are presenting themselves to the world.
For decades, much of Africa’s tourism narrative was shaped externally. Increasingly, African countries are defining their own stories, highlighting their own strengths and building their own tourism brands.
This year’s event brought together 22 African countries, 16 tourism boards, 1,225 exhibitors, 18 airlines and nearly 1,000 buyers from 44 countries, making it one of the strongest editions in the event’s history.
Yet the significance of the gathering extended beyond exhibition stands and business meetings.
Africa’s Travel Indaba generated an estimated R240 million in direct spending, supported more than 1,100 jobs and attracted almost 10,000 delegates. More importantly, it provided a platform where policymakers, investors and tourism operators could collectively explore how tourism can contribute to Africa’s broader development ambitions.
As South African Tourism Chief Convention Bureau Officer Corne Koch observed:
“These figures are not just numbers. They represent trade opportunities, destination visibility, enterprise inclusion and long-term growth for Africa’s tourism economy.”
That sentiment captures the larger story unfolding across the continent.
Tourism is no longer simply about attracting visitors.
It is becoming a tool for economic diplomacy, regional integration, job creation, cultural exchange and investment promotion.
And if the conversations in Durban are any indication, Africa is increasingly discovering that one of its greatest tourism opportunities may lie not in selling itself to the world, but in connecting more effectively with itself.
