Effective air connectivity key to unlocking African tourism – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has stated that effective air connectivity within Africa is key to unlocking tourism potential in the continent.

The Minister spoke at the 65th meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization-Commission for Africa (UNWTO-CAF), which opened in Arusha, Tanzania, on Wednesday.

In a news release issued through the Special Assistant to the President (Media), Office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Segun Adeyemi, the Minister reiterated the imperative of air transportation in international tourism development, especially in Africa, due to the need for tourists to move to the product destination.

According to the Minister, air travel has continued to be the dominant mode of travel for international tourists, accounting for over 50 per cent of all international arrivals.

He said: “It is obvious, therefore, that growing air transportation into and within the African region, including effective connectivity through the full implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision on a Single African Air Transport Market, is key to unlocking Africa’s tourism potential.”

Mohammed therefore charged African Ministers of Tourism to cooperate and collaborate with their colleagues in the aviation sector to achieve the Single African Air Transport Market.

The Minister, reeling out data to back up his assertion, listed unfavourable visa regimes, insecurity, the high cost of air transport and the low quality of tourism support services, among others, as factors hindering the growth of tourism in Africa.

He stated that Africa’s share of global international arrivals remains a paltry five per cent.

“The truth is that the performance of the region’s aviation industry, though improving, continues to lag behind that of the rest of the world, accounting for a dismal three per cent of the global air transport traffic.”

He added that out of the 1,431 country pairs between the African Union countries, only 19 per cent had some form of significant direct service in 2019 (that is operated at least, once weekly on an annual basis).

“As of 2019, only 35 per cent of the African routes were operated daily, and only 13 per cent were operated twice daily while many operated at less than daily frequency.

“Such services offer passengers very limited choices in terms of their journey timing and prevent passengers from obtaining a convenient itinerary.

“This negatively impacts productivity and ultimately has a cost implication.

“New routes and more frequencies will shorten flying time between many cities in Africa. For example, as of 2019, there was no regular direct service between the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The most convenient route available then was via West Africa or Morocco. This could take between nine and 15 hours while a direct service would take about two hours only,” he said.

Mohammed stressed that the liberalisation of air transport in Africa “is so important because it will lead to an additional 145 country pairs that will receive direct service, boost tourism and also increase frequencies on existing routes by 27 percent.”