Developing Africa's Tourism Potential Prospects and Issues

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Abstract
In spite of Africa's great potential for tourism, there are enormous costs and negative impacts to be considered. Costs can be reduced and quality improved by: (1) proceeding gradually with tourism expansion, (2) from the errors of more touristically developed countries such as those in the Caribbean, (3) educating the resident population about the industry's costs and benefits, (4) giving Africans more participatory roles in such areas as management, and (5) ensuring that part of the revenue earned by foreign investors is reinvested rather than repatriated. Tourism is an industry sensitive to both external and domestic events. In a recession, tourists stay home or visit closer destinations. If a destination country receives bad publicity or develops a reputation as an unfriendly place to visit, only empty hotels remain with huge foreign loans to be paid. Unfortunately, some of the recent travel literature on Africa is, at best, cynical and misinformed and tends to promote negative, stereotypical images of all but the most westernized spots of Africa. According to Lundberg (1985) only places like the French markets of Ivory Coast or “South Africa…oasis on order and prosperity” are worth visiting. Tourists following his advice should hardly bother to leave home. But for those ready to see the continent through African eyes, travel, even in the least “developed” countries, can be a rewarding, pleasurable, and tremendously interesting experience as well as an opportunity to compare one's lifestyle and values with those of other cultures.

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