The tourism sector would employ 21 million people, which would enable it to « surpass the manufacturing and banking sectors in the ranking of the sectors contributing most to the continent’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ».
Thus, according to AU (African Union) statistics, the tourism industry represents nearly 8% of the continent’s GDP, with an estimated value of over one hundred sixty billion dollars. To improve the productivity of the sector, one of the officials indicated that several projects will soon be implemented to promote tourism on the continent and improve its image, in order to attract many tourists from other continents as well as foreign investors.
To achieve these objectives, the pan-African institution intends to rely on the creation of the single African air transport market and the African continental free trade area, the establishment of which should « stimulate the tourism sector in Africa ».
Forty-nine AU Member States signed on 2 July in Nouakchott, at the end of the 31st Summit of Heads of State and Government, the Agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area. Swaziland and Chad have deposited their instruments of ratification of the agreement, joining Niger, Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda, which have already ratified it in recent months.