- UN World Tourism Organization says Africa has witnessed a tourism boom in 2009, while the tourism industry suffered a general decline amid the economic slowdown.
The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer latest report said that growth returned to international tourism in the last quarter of 2009 contributing to better than expected full-year results. International tourist arrivals for business, leisure and other purposes are estimated to have declined worldwide by 4 per cent in 2009 to 880 million.
Secretary general of the UNWTO Taleb Rifai said there has been a shift in the way people look at Africa as compared to 10 years ago. “Africa is now considered a very serious destination for travellers from the major generating markets," he said.
In its annual World Tourism Barometer released last week, UNWTO said Africa had bucked the global trend in 2009, with international tourist arrivals to the continent jumping 5 percent.
The report further said the World Cup football tournament to be hosted by South Africa in June has also helped to push the number of travellers to Africa even higher.
The 2008 election of President Barack Obama, whose father was an immigrant from Kenya, already appears to be encouraging African-Americans to trace their roots, according to the reports.
The "Obama effect" has helped bring the number of Americans visiting Kenya back to around what it was in 2007, before arrivals plummeted in the wake of the riots that followed disputed elections in December of that year, according to Murithi Ndegwa, managing director of the Kenya Tourist Board.
But the World Travel Market Global Trends Report 2009 has predicted the US president "will have a positive impact on Africa tourism for years to come."
The Kenyans are now building a tourist industry around the hometown of Obama's father in the modest village of Nyangoma-Kogelo near the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, and which is a national heritage site.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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