ion Exploration Travel and Tourism in Africa

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06/03/2012

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COLONISATION, EXPLORATION,

TRAVEL, AND TOURISM IN AFRICA

Dr Jan Mosedale

Overview

Physical geography

Aridity; a prevalent character.

Oil; the world’s most valuable resource.

Cultural geography

Culture Hearths (cradle of civilization; Mesopotamia, Egypt).

World Religions.

Religious conflicts. Population geography

Discontinuous clusters around infrequent water sources.

Fast growth rate (young population).

Overview Political geography

Fragmented due to colonial experience.

Oil and Non-oil states (“haves” versus “have-nots”).

Resource wars

Conflicts over water:

Regional / national issue.

Conflicts over oil:

Global issue.



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Geography

Africa's Deserts The continent straddles the Equator.

Sufficiently large to include land in both the northern

and southern hemispheres.

Dry belts:

Astride the two Tropics - Cancer and Capricorn.

Receive very little rainfall.

Relatively little moisture can accumulate in the air

masses that are the sources of the outflow of air.

SaharaTropic of Cancer

Equator

Tropic of Capricorn Kalahari

Pre-colonial Africa

Subsistence economies

Reliance on the extended family as the basic social unit

No private ownership

the unit effectively owned land.

land could not be sold.

Was passed down through the tradition of partible heritance, asopposed to primogeniture.

Under this system, no landed aristocracy developed.

Division of Labour

Women were (and are) the primary agriculturalists of Africa.

Men did the hunting and gathering.

Colonialism

European colonial objectives A port along the West African coast.

A water route to South Asia and Southeast Asia.

1500’s: Looking for resources. Slaves. About 12 million Africans were taken to work elsewhere. Americas and the Middle East.

1850: Industrial revolution occurs in Europe. Increased demand for mineral resources. Need to expand agricultural production.

Colonialism Berlin Conference (1884)

14 States divided up Africa without consideration of existingcultures.

Results of superimposed boundaries:

African peoples were divided.

Unified regions were ripped apart.

Hostile societies were thrown together.

Hinterlands were disrupted.

Migration routes were closed off.

Legacy of political fragmentation

Impaired the cohesion of newly formed countries in the 1950s.

A constant source of unrest and violence.



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Colonialism

Cultural diversity Numerous political subdivisions.

Culturally diverse:

More than 800 languages are spoken in Africa.

Many are spoken by only small numbers of people.

Nigeria alone has thirty languages in common use.

Many multi-ethnic colonies:

Europeans had little concern about the numerous cultures.

Usage of the colonizer’s language as “lingua franca”.

Notably French and English.

Early Post-Colonialism

The freedom gained through independence led to a relatively shortperiod of hope for the future

However, independence also generally led to a significantwithdrawal of the expatriates, and all their knowledge, who hadlargely been running these countries prior to independence.

Expatriates who had been engaged in the exploitation of Africanresources also often left after independence, leaving the countrieswith the resources but not the knowledge required to exploit them

After independence numerous African nations witnessed an uprising

in ethnic tensions as rival tribal groups, thrown together in countriesby colonialism, fought for control of governmental apparatus.

Post-Colonialism New governments were put into place with the departure of

the colonial powers (1950s to 1970s)

Ethnic tensions

Each group wanted to attain power in the centralgovernment

Possibility of re-drawing boundaries was minimal: Governments typically don't wish to give up territory

One-party states: Prevalent in post-colonial Africa

Dictatorship

Repression of minorities (sometimes Genocides; Uganda, Rwanda)

Cult of personality (Idi Amin in Uganda)

Conflict in African nations since 1945Algeria 1954-62, 1992- Mali 1990-5

Angola 1961-75, 1975-2002 Morocco 1953-6

B urundi 1972, 1988- M ozambi que 1965- 75 , 1981- 92

Cameroon 1955-60 Niger 1991-

Chad 1980-7, 1990-5 Nigeria 1997-

Congo 1993-5, 1997 Rwanda 1956-65, 1992, 1994-5

Congo D. R. 1960-5, 1998- Se negal 1960-200 1

Djibouti 1991 Sierra Leone 1991-6, 1997-2001

Eritrea 1998-2002 Somalia 1988-

Ethiopia 1998-2002 South Afr ic a 1976, 1983-94

Ghana 1981, 1994 Sudan 1963-72, 1984-

Guinea-Bissau 1962-74, 1998-9 Tog o 1991

Ivory Coast 2002 Tunisia 1952-4

Kenya 1952- 63 , 1990- U ganda 1966, 1971- 9, 1981- 7, 1990-

Liberia 1985-8, 1990-6, 2000- Western Sahara 1975-87

Libya 1996 Zambia 1964

Madagascar 1947-8 Zimbabwe 1972-9, 1983-4, 1990-(d iscontent)



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Crime & personal safety

Related, at least in part to the economic poverty in whichthe majority of Africans live “African crime statistics areamongst the worst in the world” (Ritchie., et al. 2003: 238)

“Africa’s continuing poor performance in tourist arrivals isblamed on safety fears.” (Sindiga, 1999: 25-26)

In 2000 there were 21,683 murders in South Africa

“South Africa's tourism minister acknowledged that hiscountry's reputation for crime was keeping visitors away”(heraldnet.com, 2007)

“Western tourists with their relative wealth are also seen asan obvious target for exploitation [in Africa] by unlicensedguides, vendors and touts of every description.” (Boniface &Cooper, 2005: 315)

TOURISM & AFRICA

International Arrivals in Africa (millions) Uneven markets for African tourism

Despite these apparently good figures and rates ofgrowth it has been suggested that “Africa as a

region for world tourism is rather poorly developed

and that the impact of tourism development is

relatively small” (Sindiga, 1999: 6)

“the majority of tourists travelling to Africa emanate

from Western Europe” (Poirier, 2000: 33)

Uneven development of African tourism

International tourism arrivals in Africa are highlydifferentiated by region and country

“Most tourists go to North Africa, southern Africaand eastern Africa…” (Sindiga, 1999: 6)

The North African nations border the southern shoreof the Mediterranean and have, with the exceptionof Libya “developed a sizeable tourism industry,based on beach holidays and inclusive tours for thenorth European market” (Boniface & Cooper, 2005:314)

Uneven development of African tourism

In contrast, “Middle and West Africa are almost

negligible as destinations for international tourist

arrivals” (Weaver & Oppermann, 2000: 116)

Countries with the least developed tourismindustries: Nigeria, Cameroon, Eritrea, Sierra Leone,

Angola, and Zambia



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Leading international tourist

destinations in Africa (2003)

Country Visitors (1000’s) % share ofarrivals in Africa

South Africa 6640 21.56

Tunisia 5114 16.6

Morocco 4552 14.78

Zimbabwe 2256 2.32

Algeria 1166 3.79

Botswana 975 3.17

Kenya 927 3.01

Mauritius 702 2.28

Namibia 695 2.26

Zambia 578 1.88

So what does Africa have to offer?

Tourism Products

Wildlife tourism – Big 5

Ski tourism (e.g., Morocco – Ifrane, Oukaimeden,

and Ketama. Kenya – Mt. Kenya, South Africa –

Sani Pass, Lesotho)

Adventure tourism (e.g. Paris-Dakar Rally)

Wine and food tourism (e.g., Wine tourism in SA) Landscape tourism (Sahara desert, Victoria Falls –

Zimbabwe/Zambia, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania)

Business tourism (e.g., Nigeria)

Tourism Products

Battlefield tourism (e.g., Zulu war sites in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Beach tourism

Film induced tourism (e.g., Casablanca - Morocco,

Star Wars - Tunisia, The English Patient - Tunisia,

Madam Butterfly - Tunisia, Out of Africa - Kenya)

Heritage tourism (e.g., World heritage UNESCOsites in South Africa including Robben Island, and

the Cradle of Humankind at Sterkfontein, pre-

historic rock paintings in Algeria, Pyramids in Egypt)

Tourism Products VFR tourism

Township tourism (de Bruyn, 2003: 221)

Slave tourism – Ghana is the prime destination in

Africa for this type of tourism

Africa as a source market



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Africa as a source market

•

While the numbers of Africans travelling internationally may lookimpressive only 2.4% of the global international tourism marketoriginates in Africa

• Furthermore, the market is dominated by South Africa (responsiblefor 30% of international tourism expenditure by Africans in 1989and increasing rapidly since then)

• The majority of international travel by Africans tends to be intra-regional, and with the possible exception of South Africa VFR based

• Consequently, the impact of Africa on the global tourism industry asa place of origin for tourists is far lower than the size of thecontinent’s population (approximately 800 million) would suggestshould be the case

• The reason for this is, of course, primarily the low standard of livingof most Africans

AFRICA: A CONTINENT IN

TURMOIL

Modern Africa

• Many of the new independent states were failures

• Inexperienced governments did not know how to managetheir economies and ended up deep in debt

• Tribal rivalries re-emerged and led to civil wars

• Brutal dictators seized power and held onto it through

violence, while exploiting their natural resources to their ownpersonal benefit

• Many African countries are crippled by massive debt,

which limits their ability to develop

Aid vs Debt

The Arab Spring The Arab Spring is the term commonly given to the

wave of protests occurring in the Arab worldbeginning in December 2010

It effectively started with a revolution in Tunisia, whichled to similar revolutions in Egypt and Libya

Other African countries affected by demonstrationsinclude Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan, andWestern Sahara

Many demonstrations have met violent responses fromauthorities as well as from pro-government militiasand counter-demonstrators

The Arab Spring



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Problem 3: Public health

BBC (2010)

Problem 4: Accessibility

Transport development In many parts of the world, transport development aims at

the integration of national economies.

Spokes radiating from the hub to regions of the interior.

System built to exploit resources; agriculture and minerals.

Not a network per se; the purpose was exploitation.

Colonies not well connected to one other.

Limited airline, airport, and air control development;

limited number of natural harbours and navigable

rivers; inadequate rail and road developments

Problem 5: Religious fundamentalism

Particularly associated with North Africa, whosepopulations are predominantly Muslim

In North Africa “poverty, illiteracy and

unemployment are widespread… This situation has

contributed to the rise of Muslim fundamentalism in

Algeria, which has so far been checked in Morocco

and Tunisia” (Boniface & Cooper, 2005: 315)

Problem 6: Labour

Given the instability and poverty in Africa it is notsurprising that educational systems are poorly

developed in the region

One result is a lack of the skilled domestic labour

required to develop and manage a successful

indigenous tourism industry

Core problem: Image It can be argued that tourism is not so much about

the provision of facilities and attractions for tourists,

but instead is about the provision of a positive

image that attracts people to it

Unfortunately, as Ankomah and Crompton (1990)

argue ‘Africa as a continent has a negative image’



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Suggested readings

Brown, D. 2000. Tourism and foreign investment inAfrica. P. Dieke (ed) The political economy of

tourism development in Africa. Cognizant

Communication Corporation: New York.

Inside Africa pt 2 (from CNN)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLP0hDqPTXY&

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ion Exploration Travel and Tourism in Africa

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