| Summary: | For African countries looking to sustain and increase their unprecedented growth rates of recent years, the potential of tourism has not been fully recognized as a vital source of economic and development power that can strengthen and expand the continent's economies. With a special analysis of 24 tourism case studies from around the world- spanning Sub-Saharan and North Africa, Asia, Central and Latin America, and the Middle East- this report is a sustainable framework for sustainable tourism in Africa. It identifies policies and institutional approaches for African countries to make tourist industries more competitive and attractive to new investment. The study shows how tourism in Thailand barely existed in the 1960s and yet 40 years later, it employs 15 to 20 percent of the country's workforce; Cancun in Mexico grew from an uninhabited peninsula into one of the most visited resorts in the world in just 35 years. Mozambique has managed a seemingly impossible transformation of its tourism industry. While the benefits of tourism development are many, the possible approaches and strategies for development number even more. This work analyzes persistent constraints and how to resolve them through policy and business reforms that have unleashed tourism potential across other regions of the world. To become competitive worldwide, African governments and the private sector must work together in planning tourism infrastructure, promotion and financing. This report is the first to comprehensively examine tourism in Africa regionally and recommend practical, evidence-based measures enabling the sector's economic and development power. This gives new impetus to the continent's development progress by leveraging tourism in pursuit of lasting poverty alleviation and significantly more jobs and opportunity for all Africans. This report identifies policies and institutional approaches to improve the tourism competitiveness of African countries so they can move up the pyramid. It clearly explains the opportunities and challenges that tourism offers and suggests tourism competitiveness strategies based on tourism economic success stories from across the world.
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