ABSTRACT

This chapter examines heritage and tourism in Africa, a region whose definition can pose a number of problems. The term subSaharan Africa is widely used to distinguish the area that largely excludes North Africa but actually includes much of the Sahara Desert itself. For example, most World Bank datasets exclude the countries of North Africa. While Africa has several islands with significant tourism industries in both the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, some refer to continental Africa, which excludes such islands as Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Cape Verde. Another example of this problem of definition is illustrated by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) regions. While most North African countries are part of the Africa region, Egypt, which is actually the leading tourism destination on the continent with vast and diverse cultural and heritage tourism attractions, is part of the larger Middle East region. For the purpose of this chapter, Africa is defined as the continent and its islands, consisting mostly of the fifty-three countries that make up the membership of the African Union. While North Africa will be mentioned occasionally, the thrust of this chapter focuses on the countries south of the Sahara. The countries of Africa are listed in Table 10.1, which also shows their geographical size and population. Africa possesses a number of geographical attributes that constitute sig-

nificant natural and cultural elements that also lay the foundation for its tourism industry. First, it occupies 18,835,221 square kilometers, making it the second largest land mass after Eurasia. Second, from the north, it stretches about 5,000 miles from Bizerte in Tunisia to Cape Agulhas in South Africa. The east-west distance is almost the same, from Dakar in Senegal to Cape Gardafui in Somalia. Third, it is the only continent positioned astride the Equator and extending almost to latitude 35 degrees south and beyond 35 degrees north of the Equator. The result of Africa’s geographical location and large size is a region endowed with multiple physical tourism resources, which include a diverse array of relief forms, topography, fauna, flora, and maritime and aquatic resources (Best and de Blij 1977). Similarly, the inventory of historical and cultural resources is enormous and diverse. These include the

Table 10.1 Profile of African countries, 2006

Country Area (000 sq km) Population (millions)

International tourists (thousands)

Algeria 2,381.7 33.4 – Angola 1,246.7 16.6 – Benin 112.6 8.8 – Botswana 581.7 1.9 – Burkina Faso 274 14.4 – Burundi 27.8 8.2 – Cameroun 27.8 8.2 – Cape Verde 4 0.5 242 Central African Republic

4 0.5 –

Chad 1,284 10.5 – Comoros 1.9 0.6 – Congo Republic 342 3.7 – Democratic Republic of Congo

2,344.9 60.6 –

Djibouti 23.2 0.8 – Egypt 1,001.5 74.2 – Equatorial Guinea 28.1 0.5 – Eritrea 117.6 4.7 – Ethiopia 1,101.3 77.2 – Gabon 267.7 1.3 – Gambia 11.3 1.7 – Ghana 238.5 23.0 442 Guinea – – – Guinea Bissau 36.1 1.7 – Ivory Coast – – – Kenya 580.4 36.6 – Lesotho 30.4 2.0 357 Liberia 111.4 3.6 – Libya 1,759.5 6.0 – Madagascar 1,759.5 6.0 312 Malawi 118.5 13.6 – Mali 1,240.2 12.0 – Mauritania 1,030.7 3.0 – Mauritius 2.0 1.3 788 Mozambique 799.4 21 – Namibia 824.3 2.1 – Niger 1,267 13.7 – Nigeria 923.8 144.7 – Rwanda 26.3 9.5 – Sao Tome and Principe

1 0.2 –

Senegal 196.7 12.1 – Seychelles 0.5 0.1 141 Somalia 637.7 8.5 – South Africa 1,219.1 47.4 8,396 Sudan 2,505.6 37.7 328 Swaziland 17.4 1.1 873 Tanzania 947.3 39.5 –

interface of an array of resources from four historical periods: the prehistorical elements based on Africa as the cradle of humankind; relics of traditional African kingdoms and civilizations; exogenous cultural elements derived from Arab adventurism and European colonization; and elements since the late 1950s post-colonial period. As a result of geographical and historical influences, Africa hosts 116 of the 878 World Heritage properties in the world (see Figure 10.1). SubSaharan countries with significant numbers of properties include: Ethiopia (8), South Africa (8), Tanzania (7), Senegal (5), and Zimbabwe (5). The geographical, historical, and cultural diversity of Africa makes it a

region with enormous potential for economic development using tourism as a tool for diversification beyond the principal traditional economic activities. The region remains arguably the poorest on all economic and human development indices. For example, both the UNDP (2008) and the World Bank (2007b) rank subSaharan Africa as the world’s poorest region with respect to per capita gross national product (GNP), low literacy rates, high infant mortality, and relatively short life expectancy. The region also has some of the fastest population growth rates in the world with populations doubling every twenty to twenty-five years. Political factors such as frequent and protracted civil wars, military interventions (Teye 1988), and corruption have combined with devastating health and medical issues (such as HIV/AIDS) and natural disasters (drought and famine) to curtail economic development. Yet, there is widespread belief that tourism can contribute in significant ways to sustainable economic development and, indeed, can help to alleviate poverty in most, if not all, African countries. The Sustainable Tourism-Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP) Program of the UNWTO is aimed at the least developed countries, especially those in Africa. Its main objective is “to contribute to poverty reduction through the establishment of community-based tourism development projects that respect the environment and benefit the most disadvantaged population” (WTO 2005). Over the last twenty-seven years, tourism in Africa as a whole has been

described by the UNWTO as being “quite positive” (WTO 2005). The number of international arrivals more than doubled between 1980 and 1990

Table 10.1 (continued)

Country Area (000 sq km) Population (millions)

International tourists (thousands)

Togo 56.8 6.4 – Tunisia 163.6 10.1 6,550 Uganda 241 29.9 539 Western Sahara – – – Zambia 752.6 11.7 – Zimbabwe 390.8 13.2 2.287

Source: UNWTO (2007); World Bank (2007a, 2007b).