With the announcement of the launch of WiT Africa in May 2020 at the WiT Innovation Stage, three panellists sat down to discuss the opportunities and challenges the continent presents both as a travel destination, and as a source of new emerging travellers.
Paulina Klotzbucher, Managing Director, Travelstart set the scene by explaining Africa’s sheer scale and its equally enormous potential for growth. Africa’s population currently stands at approximately 1.2b people (to increase to1.7b), meaning that by 2030, Africa’s population is expected to surpass both India and China.
“And [many] are online and mobile,” stated Klotzbucher, citing that with 440m mobile subscribers across the continent, making Africa the second largest internet population in the world after China.
And while 60% of the population remain unbanked, developments in the e-commerce and mobile payments space have helped mobile-savvy users satiate their appetites for shopping.
“Currently, [proportionally] there are about 60,000 people per retail outlet in Africa, compared to 400 in the USA… so people want to shop, they just have nowhere to go.”
It also helps that 43.4% of the population is urban, and also young. The median age, according to data presented by Ctrip’s Margaret Feng (Head of Oasis Lab) is just 19.4 years of age.
It paints Africa as an incredible market of promise with an appetite for travel and e-commerce, and the potential to leapfrog in a similar fashion seen in Asia Pacific over the course of the last few years. But why is it a market of interest in Asia?
According Feng, China recognises Africa for its size, rapid growth and younger population, and many companies are devoted to building infrastructure and international arms of their businesses.
However, when it comes to promoting travel to the region, there is still some hesitation coming from China’s outbound market. “Only with well-developed infrastructure, will Chinese travellers go to Africa… right now Africa is still perceived as too far for [them].”
Feng explained that because of the Chinese people’s limited knowledge of the continent, concerns over safety and hygiene are enough to dissuade many from going. Those that do go may tend to lean towards the security of group and package tours, too hesitant to explore its wonders independently.
It’s a question of the perception of Africa, as it still remains a major unknown to many. It is an aspect destination marketers must consider if they want to attract travellers to the region.
Beyond it’s perception, Klotzbucher also highlighted that there are still countless bureaucratic hurdles, like getting visas to visit or travelling between various countries, that will pose extra challenges to Africa’s development as a leading travel destination.
On the other hand, focus on Africa outbound cannot go amiss. According to Soo Siew Keong (Director, Trade Engagement & New Markets, International Group, Singapore Tourism Board), the continent has been earmarked as one of the source market Singapore aims to develop in the near future.
Soo explained that when looking for Singapore’s next engine for tourism growth, it chose to look beyond its usual key Asia markets. STB evaluated regions based on demographics, economic factors, potential for tourism, and visa regulations, and Africa came up top.
Singapore also sees a 4.9% CAGR of visitor arrivals to Singapore from Africa between 2014 and 2018 (5.2% CAGR from South Africa).
But tackling the Africa travel market as a homogenous whole will naturally go nowhere. In a continent composed of 54 countries, Soo explained that STB must be careful about how it focuses its resources in ‘correct’ parts of Africa that will yield the best return.
“When you look at Africa in 2018… there’s a strong emerging middle class, and most importantly we have great connectivity with Africa [already],” said Soo. He cited Singapore’s direct flights to South Africa and Ethopia, making them the two priority markets STB wishes to develop.
As they do so, one of the challenges STB will confront is the low perception there is of Singapore as a destination amongst African countries.
“We’re trying to find ways to strike a connection with Singapore,” said Soo. “This can be done in various ways, for example by establishing Singapore businesses in Africa, introducing Singapore food… to create awareness of Singapore as a destination.”
“Of course, we can leverage on the fact we have good connectivity to drive more destination appeal.”
