By Stanley Karombo

The 20th United nations World Tourism （UnWTO） General Assembly co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe in August marked a milestone in promoting tourism and infrastructure development in Africa.

The tourism showcase event， an important catalyst for growth in Africas tourism sector， was hosted in the Zambian tourist hub of Livingstone and the Zimbabwean town of Victoria Falls. Sylvia Masebo， Zambian Minister of Tourism and Arts， told ChinAfrica that the hosting of the event would have a lasting impact on the tourism industry as the two nations now have an opportunity to showcase various tourism attractions to the entire world.

“We expect to leave an indelible mark on our memories， and that it be part of our generational legacy， marking a clear turning point in the tourism fortunes of our two countries， our regions and indeed our continent，” Masebo said at the UNWTO assembly.

While it is acknowledged that tourism is on the rise in many African nations， what should be borne in mind is that the sector is beset by challenges in need of urgent solutions.

Some of the challenges to the sustainable development of tourism in Africa include poor infrastructure， unreliable air transport， taxes on tourism investment， an underdeveloped service sector， high crime rates， strict visa requirements and inadequate accommodation space.

Opening the UNWTO assembly Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe bemoaned the problem of connectivity in Africa， saying Africa will only be able to promote tourism by increasing intra-Africa travel.

“The current situation where Africa only has a 4-percent share of global tourism revenue in spite of its massive natural and cultural tourism resources is a matter of great concern to us. There is no way Africa can increase its portion of the global tourism cake without first promoting intraAfrica travel，” said Mugabe.

In a communique issued after the assembly， the tourism ministers noted that crossing international borders is a fundamental experience and expressed concerns that complicated visa procedures have continued to impede tourist travel.

The ministers agreed on the need to speedily remove visa requirements and introduce other measures such as e-visas or introduce visas on arrival.

Meanwhile， a study by the World Bank said that airfares in Africa were almost 50 percent higher than elsewhere and charter tours were 20-30 percent more expensive compared with other destinations.The study showed that only 10 percent of the continents 390，000 hotel rooms are estimated to meet international standards， while road transport was found to be notoriously poor in much of Africa.

As UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rufai said at the assembly， the future of Africas development depends on the tourism industry， hence the need for countries to increase efforts to promote the sector.

Rufai said African destinations are challenging and difficult to reach and tourism on the continent needs more promotion and marketing.

Despite these imposing challenges， international tourist arrivals in Africa have surged from 15 million in 1990 to 50 million last year and tourism earnings from $6 billion in 1990 to $34 billion last year. But the continents revenue from the industry accounts for only 4 percent of the global figure， according to UNWTO.

The Zimbabwe Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry， Walter Mzembi， said the event would also grow the continents tourism sector at a double-digit pace， yet the benefit from tourism remains low. UNWTO forecasts that Africa will receive 85 million international tourist arrivals by 2020 and 134 million by 2030， an increase of 8.1 percent per year.

“Africas benefit from tourism has remained largely suppressed. Through this conference， we want to see how we can improve the current 4-percent figure and see it getting to double digits，” he said.