African tourism has traditionally been marketed around wildlife, beaches and other natural attractions. But as intra-African travel grows, destinations are increasingly investing in their cities to meet demand from a new generation of affluent African travellers seeking shopping, night life, food and business experiences.
Kenya and Rwanda are among the destinations repositioning their tourism offerings to capture this growing market.
Fred Odek, Chairman of the Kenya Tourism Federation, believes African travellers will diversify the market.
“If you want to grow, you have to look into Africa. Kenya is looking into growing the markets from Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, Congo and Ghana.”
Targeting a different market, however, requires destinations to rethink what they offer visitors.
Cities over safaris
Odek notes that the expectations of African travellers are different to those of more traditional European and American markets.
While some African tourists will enjoy the traditional beach and wildlife offerings in Kenya, urban tourism is emerging as a trend.
“Affluent African travellers want to enjoy the night life, high-end hotels, shopping and good food a city has to offer. We need to re-engineer the product we share with consumers and remove them from the understanding that we can only offer them wildlife and fishing.”
Odek told Tourism Update this has affected the Kenyan tourism industry’s infrastructure investments.
“The African market wants to shop as if in Europe or another developed country with all the same brands so we’re developing the city to serve that market.”
City tourism has been bolstered by a further sub-section of African tourists: meetings and conferences. Odek highlighted the growth of international hotels and conference centres being built in Nairobi in the past five years as an indication of the demand from corporates. Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Pullman and Vignette Collection have all established a footing in Nairobi in the past two years. Business Day Africa reports that Kenya has one of Africa’s largest branded hotel pipelines with 31 hotel chain projects, adding more than 4 200 rooms, in development.
A regional trend
The shift reflects a broader evolution in African tourism. While long-haul visitors from Europe and North America continue to drive demand for traditional safari and nature-based experiences, growing regional travel is creating demand for urban tourism, prompting destinations to rethink where they invest and how they market themselves.
Jamila Uwimana Gashaka, GM of Heritage Safaris, told Tourism Update that she has seen a shift away from a purely traditional wildlife tourism offering.
“The dynamic in Rwandan tourism is shifting towards Kigali. Obviously, wildlife remains our biggest revenue generator but lately we have seen visitors show more of an interest in experiencing the city.”
Gashaka said this has been assisted by investment in the city’s infrastructure.
“Accommodation, green parks and sports arenas – Rwanda has invested a lot in urban centres that allow the country to generate income from city tourism.”
Urban tourism has a strong African market, Gashaka stated.
“While our clients from North America or Europe want adventure or nature-based activities, our East or West African clients generally want more urban experiences like night life, shopping or food experiences.”
Business follows demand
Among those capitalising on the trend is Sheila Kyarisiima, Founder of The Pinnacle Kigali, a boutique hotel designed to encourage visitors to spend more time exploring Rwanda’s capital.
Kyarisiima said the African market needs a space for Africans to meaningfully engage on issues that affect them.
“We wanted to create a space where Africans could push one another forward, which is really helpful for people in business and the policy space. High-level conferences are proving very popular.”
Kyarisiima believes capital cities are the heartbeat of a country. “African cities are viable and we want travellers to experience them.”
As regional travel continues to grow, destinations across Africa may increasingly find that attracting visitors means recognising cities as tourism destinations in their own right.
