ECONOMY: Southern Africa Seeks Peace through Tourism

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

NELSPRUIT, South Africa, Apr 25 2002 (IPS) - The first ‘African Peace Through Tourism Conference’, held in the mountainous city of Nelspruit near Kruger Park game reserve last month, highlighted potential for tourism beyond the economic: as a means to strengthen ties between nations and thus reduce regional turmoil.

“Countries are finally recognising that tourism is a gold mine, or rather a goose that lays golden eggs, and to keep those eggs coming the goose cannot be harmed by chasing tourists away. That happens every time there is a threat of war or a rumour of violence,” says South African travel agent Gladys Smith.

Tourism revenues were down on average 10 percent last year, after a decade of constantly rising receipts, in the 14 nations that comprise the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Worst hit were so-called conflict nations, such as Zimbabwe, whose election-related violence was widely disseminated in the international press. The nation’s tourism ministry last week unveiled a 3-million-U.S.-dollar publicity programme to counter perceptions that Zimbabwe is unsafe for tourists.

However, this past month saw several South African tour operators strike Zimbabwe from their list of destinations. About 90 percent of visitors to Southern Africa make South Africa their primary destination, from which they explore neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe.

“We stand to loose considerable revenue because Zimbabwe is a no-go area right now,” says Jason Williams of Protea Safaris of South Africa. “Zimbabwe’s neighbours, especially South Africa, should have done more to stop the violence there, for the benefit of the region.”

The theme of the ‘African Peace Through Tourism Conference’ might have been inspired by such observations. Participants predicted that economic ties like joint tourism initiatives would inspire governments to finesse internal disputes before they endanger those trans-national links.

“One example would be the South Africa-Swaziland venture, the Maguga Dam,” says travel agent Smith about a project built to provide irrigation for agriculture but which resulted in a 1150-ha-manmade lake to be developed as a tourist destination. “Swaziland is faced with a transition from royal rule to democracy, and South Africa will want to ensure that it is a peaceful transition to safeguard its investment,” he adds.

The goal sought by the 350 delegates from all over the continent, who attended the Nelspruit conference, was to find “practical and sustainable initiatives to build a united and peaceful continent through tourism”.

The goal is ambitious, and will be pursued next year when Tanzania hosts the second conference. In the meantime, African delegates will attend a Global Summit of the Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT), to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, soon.

Beyond the conferences, though, what “practical and sustainable initiatives” are being undertaken?

This month, tourism ministers from all SADC countries met in Luanda, Angola to launch the C-2-C Regional Tourism Initiative. C-2-C stands for “sea to sea” or “coast to coast”, and will be applied to a tourism corridor connecting the Atlantic Ocean at Namibia’s Walvis Bay to the Indian Ocean shore at Maputo, Mozambique.

One well-developed section already exists, the Trans-Kalahari Highway that runs through the stark beauty of Southern Africa’s largest desert and home to the San bush people.

“For tourists this will be like travelling on the Explorer Highway in Australia,” says Musa Mdluli, Chief Executive Officer of Swaziland’s Tourism Authority who is trying to convince route planners to create a southern detour to include that country.

“There will be many opportunities along the way to see the familiar and the unfamiliar, game parks and the way ordinary Africans live, with a variety of cultures,” Mdluli predicts.

From the perspective of peace through tourism, the route will require the cooperation of five countries, from west to east: Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and maybe Swaziland.

“It would look bad, and would probably sabotage the initiative, if a part of the C-2-C route is closed because of conflict in one of the participating country,” says a senior tourism authority in the region. “For non-African tourists who tend to lump all our countries together as one, the entire route might be dismissed as unsafe.”

The concept of counting on governments to preserve the welfare of camera-touting, hard currency-spending foreign visitors by foregoing civil and external wars could seem naïve in a continent that has known its share of bloody conflict. But sceptics might consider the example of Rwanda. The site of war and genocide eight years ago is becoming a tourism destination in 2002.

Alexandre Lyambabaje, Rwanda’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, reported at the ‘African Peace Through Tourism Conference’ that tourism revenues were up last year following a publicity campaign targeted at expatriates who fled the country.

“Not only are the homesick ex-pats returning for a visit, they are also bringing friends from their new nations of residence who are discovering Africa for the first time,” Lyambabaje said.

An even more unlikely place for tourism seems war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Yet, neighbouring Rwanda intends to enter into a tourism initiative with the DRC and Uganda to develop a transfrontier park, Virunga National Park as an adventure, culture and ecotourism destination. By 2020, the park hopes to achieve world heritage site status.

Another major transfrontier park is being discussed for the Lubombo mountain range that connects South Africa with Mozambique via Swaziland.

Tourism authorities and the governments that support them hope that with such investments at stake, and reluctant to upset other national partners in tourism initiatives, countries will beat their swords if not into plowshares than into game-viewing LandRovers and cultural displays.