ATTA® welcomes statistics showing that Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the world | News

Virginia Messina, Group CEO of ATTA® said:
“WTTC’s latest Economic Impact Research reinforces Africa as a major global player in travel and tourism, and one of the fastest growing regions after Asia and the Middle East.
“International visitor spending to Africa will increase by 5% in 2025 and the continent is outperforming mature markets such as Europe (+1.3%) and North America (still below pre-pandemic levels).
“According to the report, Travel and Tourism will contribute a total of US$211 billion to the region’s GDP by 2024, representing 7.8% of the African economy, an increase of 9.8% compared to 2019. The sector also supported 27.9 million jobs across the continent, a share of 5.6% of total employment.
“We were also pleased to see this week that Rwanda has joined Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Benin, Gambia and Tanzania to enable visa-free travel for Africans, heralding a new era of free movement for the continent.
Domestic tourism is crucial to the continent as 60% of all expenditure comes from intra-African travellers. Domestic spending totaled $106 billion in 2024 and international spending by visitors to the continent reached nearly $72 billion. This policy heralds a new seamless mobility across the continent, which other regions of the world have long benefited from. Africa is at the beginning of its journey to unlock this benefit and the easing of the movement will accelerate growth and opportunities across the continent and position travel and tourism as a strategic sector for African economies.”