Roundup: Ebola scare hampers Africa's int'l tourism growth

Tourism became one of the sectors where growth suffered in 2014 as a result of the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in parts of West Africa.

Although the outbreak was largely restricted to portions of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, international tourism arrivals that year suffered as a result of the scare.

From a 5.4 percent year-on-year growth in the arrivals in 2013, the continent recorded only two percent growth in 2014.

"This represents a clear slow down for obvious reasons: Ebola's outbreak in a few West African countries clearly impacted on tourism in a misguided perception that aggravated fears among many travelers," Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Taleb Rifai stated.

At the recently held UNWTO Branding Africa conference in Accra, Ghana, Rifai cautioned that the industry could no longer accept the misguided generalization about the whole African continent.

"Africa is so rich, so diverse, so colorful; we cannot sum it up in one destination and one perception," the official added.

In Ghana, for instance, eco-tourism, according to the Department of Game and Wildlife, suffered a 30 percent decline in the international tourism arrivals.

Rifai was however optimistic that the resilience demonstrated by the continent during the Ebola crisis would yield dividends.

"We are still not out of the woods yet but we definitely have faced the challenge of Ebola in a very brave and a very consistent way.

"The people of Africa were brave, and when the rest of the world was panicking, we stood very bravely. We said we were going to confront this. Ghana is an example of this: it stood firm, it stood strong, and very importantly, we have been able to pass this important challenge and it is behind us. It is behind us," the Secretary General noted.

Ghana's Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, conceded that the Ebola scare affected the tourism industry in Africa in 2014.

She said that was the reason for the recently held UNWTO Regional Conference on "Enhancing Brand Africa" was held to help salvage the situation and enhance the performance of the sector.

"People just heard Africa has Ebola and that was good enough to stop people from coming to this country," Ofosu-Agyare lamented.

Besides the lower revenue to the African states, tour operators whose livelihoods depended largely on tourism suffered a great deal from the crushing numbers in international tourism arrivals in 2014.

"For the past one year, tourism in Ghana has really gone down. Last year, it was worse. Tour operators that had bookings were mostly cancelled and the monies were supposed to be refunded," President of the Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA), Nancy Quartey Sam disclosed.

Fortunately, she said the few that came realized that Ghana was Ebola-free, adding that Africa was a very big area and that Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone were far away from Ghana.

Chris Diaz, Marketing Director for Kenyan Airways, told Xinhua that there were other stigmas including the safety, convenience and quality of facilities that posed a challenge to the industry on the continent.

Diaz proposed that Africa must improve upon its communication to do more strategic campaigns across the world. Endit