How do we ensure that tourism recovers and continues to grow? Having a robust recovery plan is one way. The East African Community (EAC) Sectoral Council on Tourism and Wildlife Management met in July to formulate and approve a regional COVID-19 tourism recovery plan.
The regional tourism sectoral council in East Africa has promoted and sustained ecotourism and wildlife tourism as major generators of revenue to the regional economy.
West Africa can learn from East Africa – countries in Western Africa share similarities in natural and cultural resources, but a lack of a concerted regional tourism approach (having an active tourism council is one way to start) and a collaborative regional tourism framework has left these countries with contrasting outcomes for their individual tourism industries while collectively, they have been unable to effectively harness these tourism assets into products and services for economic gains.
The language differences (West Africa comprises English and French-speaking countries) for the sub-region may be seen as an obstacle for sustainable regional travel and tourism, but this can easily be overcome. Let us learn from Europe – the Scandinavian region in Europe has had a successful regional tourism framework for years, despite its countries having different languages; the Schengen Area in Europe consisting of 35 countries with different languages created borderless travel within the Schengen sub-region, and closer home in East Africa, the regional tourism framework is a working model, despite the language differences across the East African states.
West Africa must look towards overcoming these barriers and optimizing the opportunities presented by the pandemic. With increasing domestic and regional tourism, the focus must be on regional collaborations between the ministries of tourism, regional tourism branding and marketing, and the creation of a regional tourism framework, that is aligned with existing cross-border agreements (e.g. ECOWAS and AfCFTA) to facilitate free movement across the sub-region for seamless trade, travel, and tourism.