Africa’s Youth Are the Future of Global Tourism – Here’s Why

By Shaikha Al Nowais

In the case of the tourism business, Sub-Saharan Africa’s youth inhabitants must be seen as one of many continent’s biggest strengths. With 70% below the age of 30, there’s a generational alternative to drive a brand new sort of business. One which promotes native values, inclusive development, local weather motion, and solidifies a brand new voice for the continent within the world enviornment.

Tourism is among the world’s nice equalizers—not less than in concept. It guarantees cultural trade, financial alternative, and shared expertise throughout borders. However because the business begins one other peak season, we should ask: who’s writing the script? And who’s being ignored of the body?

This Might, the UN can be asking these questions once they elect their new Secretary Common for Tourism. This position leads the worldwide agenda—shaping coverage, mobilizing funding, and figuring out which voices set the course for one of many world’s most impactful industries. It’s time for a forward-looking voice that prioritizes South-South cooperation, understands the youth perspective and works with companions within the area to construct inclusive tourism techniques.

First, it’s time to decenter the business and put native African innovation first. For too lengthy, a handful of establishments, locations, and gatekeepers have formed the agenda. The World South—residence to a number of the most culturally and ecologically wealthy areas on Earth—wants greater than a seat on the desk. It wants co-authorship of the business’s future.

That begins with elevating tourism ministries from underrepresented areas, investing in rural and Indigenous-led tourism, and redirecting capital towards sustainable infrastructure the place it’s wanted most. Throughout Africa, we’re already seeing steps to showcase and help the subsequent wave of entrepreneurs. The EU’s Areas of Tradition 2025 is a programme geared toward collaboration between Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Initiatives like this could result in additional journey to the area and alternatives for cultural industries to drive financial development in lots of international locations. It’s about strategic storytelling and creating cultural ecosystems that deliver accountable tourism and deepen native influence. 

Second, we should modernize. Africa’s technological panorama has skilled vital development lately, marked by elevated web penetration, cell connectivity, and startup investments. Know-how shouldn’t be a luxurious. AI, knowledge analytics, and sensible cell platforms have to be used to personalize journey, optimize flows, and make tourism extra equitable. Small and medium-sized operators want entry to the identical digital infrastructure and coaching as world manufacturers. Africa’s younger inhabitants are digital leaders who’ve grown up related like no technology earlier than. This represents a chance to include new tech, create jobs, and switch connectivity into shared prosperity. 

Lastly, we should lead with native values. Regeneration—not simply restoration—must be the business’s North Star. Which means embedding sustainability into procurement techniques, incentivizing eco-design, and measuring success not simply by arrival counts, however by group well-being and environmental stewardship. Examples like TUI Group, who’re partnering with native organizations to develop funding initiatives in socially sustainable methods, must be the norm. When tourism is aligned with native values, it turns into constructed on resilience.  

This UN election is greater than a management selection—it’s an opportunity to determine the sort of tourism future Africans need. The query will not be whether or not tourism will develop—it can. The query is: will there be a system that’s inclusive, resilient, and climate-aligned with the subsequent generations or will we merely develop the outdated mannequin, with all its embedded inequities?

Tourism can do greater than generate jobs and income—it could possibly empower communities, strengthen local weather motion, and elevate African voices on the worldwide stage. It’s time for the continent not simply to take part within the tourism economic system, however to steer it—by itself phrases.

To compete and lead on this new period, that should change. Africa is not only a vacation spot—it’s a driver of tourism’s future. I consider we are able to make it inclusive, climate-aligned and fit-for-purpose for our new world period.