By James Hall
MAPUTO, Mozambique, Feb 25 2002 (IPS)

A “triple threat” of a local political crisis, a regional economic downturn, and a worldwide tourism freeze following the Sep 11 terrorism bombings in the United States caused a precipitous drop in tourist numbers in Southern Africa last year.

Tourism was down on average 10 percent throughout the 14 nations from Namibia to Madagascar that comprise the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), retarding the hopes of some governments to improve their gross domestic products by enticing more hard currency-spending foreign visitors.

But a multi-faceted approach to tourists’ enticement has laid the groundwork for a rebound in 2002, and prepared as well the foundation for a sustained regional tourism initiative.

“The wild card remains Zimbabwe,” says Gloria DeSousa, the owner of a travel agency in Manzini, Swaziland. “Africa is so little understood by outside visitors that the domestic problems of one country make foreigners think the whole region is suffering.”

Foreign visitors to Southern Africa are relatively few, which may explain a pervading ignorance about the area. Notes Ted Reilly, the founder of the Big Game Parks of Swaziland system, “Of all the tourists coming to Africa, 90 percent go to Egypt. That leaves the entire rest of the continent scrambling for the remaining 10 percent.”

Tourism worldwide dipped after the Sep 11 terrorist attacks. “Time and better security will eventually get people to travel again,” says DeSousa. “When that happens, tourist destinations had better be ready.”

South African president Thabo Mbeki mentioned South Africa as a site ready to be discovered by the world’s tourists when he opened his national parliament this month.

In Botswana, the rugged Tsodilo Hills in the Kgalagadi Desert have just been listed as the nation’s first World Heritage Site, which tourism officials expect to draw an influx of visitors.

The Tsodilo Hills are drilled by a cave network that contains an estimated 4,000 paintings scattered across 400 individual sites. Elephant, leopard, kudu and desert reptiles live in the environment, which offers a dramatic alternative to the Serengeti-type savannah most foreign visitors associate with Africa.

The U.S. government is funding protection initiatives to preserve the area as a pilot project for the type of imaginative tourism approaches the region needs to apply.

“We shall publicise these attractions to bring people here initially, but word of mouth, which is the best publicity, will ultimately bring in more visitors,” says an official at Botswana’s tourism ministry.

Mozambique has created a new marine park, the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park, which combined with neighbouring parks make a 1,400 square kilometre marine national park that is one of the largest in the Indian Ocean.

While environmental protection is an agreeable spin-off, the primary motivation for the initiative was the hope that the area’s turquoise waters and vibrant coral reefs would prove a tourism magnet.

Government hopes that upscale tourist hotels shuttered since civil war decimated the country from 1975 to the mid-1990s will be reopened or replaced by newer facilities.

In Namibia, the 22 resorts associated with the Namibian Wildlife Resorts saw a 10 percent rise in bookings in December/January over the year before, the result of a marketing scheme to lure tourists from South Africa and neighbouring countries.

South Africans comprise most of the region’s tourists – up to 80 percent of visitors to Swaziland, for instance. Of overseas visitors, Europeans, Australians and North Americans dominate regional visitors.

“All are welcome for the hard currency they bring,” says Swaziland’s former tourism minister Musa Nkhambule.

A poll taken by the American travel magazine ‘Travel and Leisure’ found that 61 percent of respondents rated Cape Town as their favourite African destination, suggesting a European influence is desired in an African urban setting.

However, when pollsters sought from American travellers their favourite hotels, most of the top 10 hostelries were found in game park settings or on Indian Ocean islands.

In order of popularity, the following were rated high: Chateau de Feuilles (Seychelles), Londolozi (South Africa), Mala Mala Game Reserve (South Africa), Bay Hotel (South Africa), Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve (South Africa), and Ngorongoro Sepa Lodge (Tanzania). Serengeti Sopa Lodge (Tanzania), Chobe Game Lodge (Botswana), Singita Private Game Reserve (South Africa), The Plettenberg (South Africa) and Gibbs Farm (Tanzania) were also rated high.

In terms of value, an average daily rate in U.S. dollars for a stay in Cape Town, the Americans’ preferred destination, is 59 dollars. Cape Town compares favourably to cities that are tourist destinations in other developing nations, such as Buenos Aires (67 dollars), Melbourne (72 dollars), Rio de Janeiro (62 dollars), Bangkok (70 dollars), and Hong Kong (83 dollars).

However, virtually every African city is cheaper than Cape Town. Zimbabwe, whose currency has depreciated drastically due to the nation’s political crisis, is a “roaring bargain,” says DeSousa, who notes that tourist haunts outside Harare are usually safe for visitors.

Hotel operators at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe have sent out the message, “Those who visit the Falls experience for themselves that the political ill-doings in the lead up to the March elections have not been witnessed within the area, and it remains calm and a wonderful destination.”

Nevertheless, it will be Zambia, across the Zambezi River, rather than Zimbabwe that will likely reap the greatest bonanza from the region’s primary tourist draw this year: a lengthy total eclipse of the sun that will be best viewed from the two country’s shared border area. Zambia’s hotels are fully booked for the celestial spectacle in December.

South Africa, the region’s economic powerhouse, is testing a medley of tourism draws, from a new airline that flies excursions exclusively on vintage aircraft, some dating from the 1930s, to a museum development on Robben Island, a World Heritage Site where Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid leaders were imprisoned.

Worldwide marketing efforts have earned the country a presence in international tourism conferences (and conversely, with next month’s “Peace Through Tourism Conference” in Nelspruit where President Mbeki will speak on the cultural and environmental benefits of tourism), which last month resulted in China granting the country an “Approved Destination Status”.

The designation will allow the travellers from the world’s most populous country direct access to South Africa for tourism purposes.

So many different approaches in the contiguous countries show an imaginative thinking toward raising world awareness of the region.

“There is much more to Africa than game parks and pyramids,” says Thabo Ndwandwe, a cultural tourism operator in Swaziland. “When tourism picks up worldwide, we will have positioned ourselves with this message, and we are ensuring the attractions are all in place.”

Excerpt: