For every 100 US dollars spent on a vacation tour by a tourist from a developed country, only around 5 US dollars actually stays in a developing-country destination’s economy, translating into a 95% loss in revenue.
“In most all-inclusive package tours, about 80% of travelers’ expenditures go to the airlines, hotels and other international companies, who often have their headquarters in the travelers’ home countries, and not to local businesses or workers,” says Grandcourt.
She says this has severe consequences on African economies, something she says prevents the tourism sector from fully unleashing its potential to drive inclusive socio-economic development and advancement of Africa and from effectively contributing to eradicate poverty in line with the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
More than 600 delegates, including officials from the government as well as role players in the private sector, turned up for the event to look at ways to improve intra-Africa tourism. This comes on the back of the industry suffering massive setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic which gave rise to travel restrictions.