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21 Communities in Sustainable Tourism Development – Case Studies

From the book sustainable tourism dialogues in africa.

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Tourism in Africa: Issues and Prospects

• First Online: 12 April 2020

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• Peter U. C. Dieke 6 , 7  

Part of the book series: Geographies of Tourism and Global Change ((GTGC))

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This chapter sets out the current state of tourism to and within Africa, highlighting the key themes and issues that confront the industry across the continent. The trend issues have human resource consequences for the tourism sector there, in terms of attracting the quality staff to meet the increasingly globalized service standards.

This chapter is an updated version of an article, ‘Africa in the Global Tourism Economy: Trend Patterns, Issues, and Future Perspectives’, previously published in The Harvard College Economics Review 3 (2): 9–15, 2009. The author is grateful to Harvard Economic Review for permission to re-use this updated material.

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2.1 Introduction

This chapter sets out the current state of tourism to and within Africa, highlighting the key themes and issues that confront the industry across the continent. The trend issues have human resource consequences for the tourism sector there, in terms of attracting the quality staff to meet the increasingly globalized service standards. The implications from these trends will mean further marginalization of Africa in the global ‘pleasure periphery’ in the near future. By definition, but consistent with the UN World Tourism Organization’s (WTO’s) regional classification of countries for tourism statistics purposes, ‘Africa’ refers to the Islamic countries of the northern sub-region (excluding Egypt and Libya) as well as sub-Saharan Africa—the central, eastern, southern and western sub-regions—and the Atlantic and Indian Ocean Africa islands (Dieke, 2003 , 2013 ). ‘Issues and prospects’ describe the challenges and opportunities associated with the process of developing tourism: the reasons they arise, the responses to them and the outcome of the measures (Dieke, 2009 ).

First, the chapter critically reviews, in brief, the role of international tourism in development. Second, it relates the analysis to the African continent by discussing a wide range of global and regional factors that influence tourism’s inclusion in, and implications for, development strategies. In the third place, the chapter identifies and discusses the major ‘areas of concern’ in relation to the sustainability of the tourism sector in the region in the twenty-first century. Finally, the chapter considers the way forward, suggesting how some of the challenges might be overcome.

2.2 International Tourism in Development

Many countries, both developed and developing, have recognized the advantages that international tourism can contribute to their development efforts (Jenkins, 2015 ; Sharpley & Telfer, 2015 ). These advantages can be encapsulated in six areas: earning of foreign exchange, contribution to government revenues, creation of employment opportunities, generation of income, stimulus to inward investment and regional development.

In this chapter, there is no space to explore these impacts in detail but it is worth noting that although invariable emphasis is given to the economic advantages of tourism, there are inevitable impacts of a social, cultural and environmental nature that have to be considered in any sustainable development strategy. If these potential impacts are not considered, then they may be the very factors that will compromise the sustainability of the sector. For example, development experience and many academic studies (Christie, Fernandes, Messerli, & Twining-Ward 2013 ; Novelli, 2015 ; Rogerson, 2007 ; UNCTAD, 2017 ) have indicated that the scale, type and location of tourism developments are critical factors in gaining community acceptance of proposals. There is a growing awareness of these considerations among development planners and to a greater extent tourism development is now taking these community views into account. To improve the chances of developing a sustainable tourism sector any proposed developments have to integrate into the community and not confront it.

The following paragraphs take a more balanced view, explore the preceding issues within a broader framework of international tourism economy, relate the synthesis to African tourism perspectives and assess the development potential for international tourism in Africa if the continent is to successfully compete in the global tourism marketplace.

2.3 Global and Regional Tourism: Trend Analysis

2.3.1 global context.

The extent and impact of tourism, both at global and regional levels, can be seen by reference to Tables  2.1 , 2.2 and 2.3 (see also Emeraldinsight, 2019 ). It is evident (Table  2.1 ) that 1,323 million tourists travelled globally in 2017, some 84 million more than the previous year and a new record. This was an increase of 7% in comparison with 2016, a highest growth rate since 2010. The sector has now seen uninterrupted growth in arrivals for eight straight years. This demand characteristic suggests, first, that global tourism is still a high-volume industry and, second, growth in arrivals was echoed by a strong increase in exports generated by tourism, which reached US$ 1.6 trillion in 2017, making tourism the world’s third-largest export sector (Busiweek, 2019 ). UNWTO’s long-term perspective put the forecast of 3.8% per year for the period 2010.

It is further shown (Table  2.2 ) that US$ 1.3 trillion (excluding international fare payments of US$ 240 billion) were generated in global tourism receipts in 2017 (5% higher than 2016). It can be said that global tourism is again a major feature in the world economy. In conclusion, these strong 2017 results were driven by sustained travel demand for destinations across all world regions, including a firm recovery by those that have suffered from security challenges in recent years. Strong outbound demand from virtually all source markets, including rebounds from major emerging economies Brazil and the Russian Federation, benefited both advanced and emerging destinations (Busiweek, 2019 ).

2.3.2 Regional Context

Regional trends can also be discerned from Tables  2.1 and 2.2 . The indication (Table  2.1 ) is that Africa (9%) led the growth ranking in 2017, followed by Europe (8.4%), while Asia (5.6%), the Middle East (4.6%) and the Americas (3.3%) also recorded sound results. The Middle East led growth in tourism receipts with a 13% increase in 2017, followed by Africa and Europe which both recorded 8% growth. Receipt grew 3% in Asia and the Pacific and 1% in the Americas. Europe recorded the highest growth in absolute terms, with an increase of US$ 60 billion to reach US$ 612 billion, or 38% of the world’s international tourism receipts.

2.3.3 African Context

Within Africa, international tourist arrivals in 2017 increased by 9% and tourism receipts at the same level (+8%) (Table  2.3 ). Results were driven by the continued recovery in North Africa and the solid growth in most destinations that reported data. Tunisia continued to rebound strongly in 2017 with a 23% growth in arrivals, while Morocco also enjoyed better results after weaker demand in the previous year. Growing demand from European source markets and a more stable environment contributed to the sub-region’s positive results. In sub-Saharan Africa, strong performance continued in large destinations like Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritius and Zimbabwe. The sub-region’s top destination, South Africa, reported slower growth in arrivals though a strong increase in receipts. Island destinations Seychelles, Cabo Verde and Reunion, all reported double-digit growth in arrivals, benefiting from increased air connectivity.

2.3.4 Trend Analysis

The preceding trend patterns, as described, form the basis for analysis here, since such trends are a necessary and influencing parameter to analyse African prospects, prompting these reflections. First, the statistics illustrate the nature and scope of international tourism in Africa and the significance of tourism in some countries, which is clearly influenced by the broader nature of economic development. Second, there are considerable variations in the scale of tourism development in Africa, from the dominant (i.e. developed) in theoretical development continuum to the Johnny-come-lately (i.e. least developed or late starters). As seen, some countries in the continent, for example, Kenya in the east, Mauritius and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, Morocco and Tunisia in the north, South Africa and Zimbabwe in the south, Ghana and Senegal in the west are well-established, ‘successful’ tourism destinations. There are others like Nigeria, Cameroon, Eritrea and Sierra Leone, which for a number of reasons have limited tourism development and therefore have not made the table league of major players in tourism and have limited tourism development but considerable potential.

Third, the statistics further highlight possible underlying reasons why there is relatively little tourism in some countries and more in others. The dominance of countries of North Africa, e.g. Morocco, is explained not only by the sub-region’s proximity to the major European generating markets but, more importantly, by its long-standing economic, political and other ties with these areas. There was also the suggestion back in 1972 that North Africa is ‘… simply a natural extension of European resorts, in the path of the inevitable southern push towards the sun and, initially at least, towards less crowded beaches’ (Hutchinson, 1972 : 45). It is further argued, on a wider scope, with respect to many less developed countries that ‘where foreign enterprises were present in a country’s tourist industry they would be the most successful …’ (Britton, 1982 : 340). This might explain why southern and eastern Africa are, in tourism terms, significant, as the case study of Kenya shows: ‘pioneer facilities were in place because Kenya had a vigorous expatriate community which sought to advance foreign commercial interests, including tourism’ (Dieke, 1993 : 13).

In relation to those ‘Johnny-come-lately’ (or late starter) countries in Africa, some critics might argue, albeit harshly, that the problems in Africa’s tourism are closely related to structural imbalances in their overall development pattern. There are no clear strategies for development, in general, or for tourism, in particular, and tourism has not been integrated with other economic sectors. As a consequence, where tourism development in some countries has been insufficient or neglected (as in Cameroon and Nigeria), in others (for example, Kenya) it has been uncontrolled and excessive. Organization of the tourism sector has been inadequate, which has contributed to a lack of profitability in many operations, and promotion prospects are poor, with massive reliance on expatriate staff. Above all, the major setback is inadequate training. For the purposes of this chapter, this profile, in brief, clearly influenced by the wider nature of economic development (Emeraldinsight, 2019 ), provides a framework within which to examine other tourism issues in the region.

2.4 Some of Africa’s Tourism Issues for Consideration

There are a number of general development issues that can be associated with tourism in Africa, about which so much has been written (Dieke, 2000 , 2013 ). The issues stem from several factors, including: (1) the general disappointment with the economic returns from the tourism sector; (2) insufficient knowledge of the market mix of international tourism; (3) the social and political discontent with tourism and, in particular, the market-driven nature of the sector; (4) the inability of governments, because of their bureaucratic structure, to react to market changes or market signals; (5) the lack of human resource availability and (6) general level of development of the region.

No attempt will be made in this chapter to pursue these issues in detail. Instead, discussion will centre on general factors that influence the global tourism trends noted above. The demand determinants are really of two components: economic and non-economic. Given that tourism is essentially a leisure activity (excluding the important business travel market), these conditions not only influence global tourism trends but also have specific impacts on Africa.

2.4.1 Economic Factors

Tourism is an export leisure activity which is heavily influenced by economic conditions in the main tourist generating regions, which are primarily the United States and Europe. When these economies are buoyant, there is a correlation between disposable per capita income levels and the propensity to travel. In the current circumstances, when the United States and European Union economies are both suffering from economic uncertainty and rising unemployment rates, people are cautious about committing themselves to travel and holiday expenditure. Although there is evidence that consumers give a higher protection to potential travel and holiday expenditure in their annual budgets, economic downturns do affect outbound travel.

2.4.2 Personal Threats

As a general proposition it can be said that perceived threats to tourists will decrease international tourism flows and cause a substitution effect. For example, the terrorism incidents in the United States have not only drastically decreased the number of residents and citizens travelling outside the country (international tourism) but have caused many not to forgo their holidays but rather to take their holidays within the United States (domestic tourism). Some of these personal threats can be classified as follows.

2.4.3 Security

Tourists will not travel to countries or areas within large countries where they feel threatened. Some relatively recent examples are the 11 September 2001 events in the United States, the bombing in Bali on 12 October 2002 and the Iraq war of March 2003 (and ongoing). When such events occur, there is an immediate and often massive dislocation to country and regional travel.

2.4.4 Health

The outbreak of the SARS virus, the AIDS pandemic and the outbreak of bubonic plague in India some years ago had a major influence on both the volume and direction of international tourism flows.

2.4.5 Natural Disasters

There are many examples, including floods (Central and Eastern Europe in 2002), foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2002 and bird flu in Hong Kong and parts of China in 2002. A combination of economic decline, together with some of the circumstances described will have immediate effects on personal travel plans and business travel. Unfortunately, as tourism is a multi-sector activity, there will be collateral affects. These we can observe in the global airline industry, hotels and in other tourism-related activities. These are very difficult times for tourism businesses and some will not survive the current crisis. However, for those that survive, there is some good news. Historical analysis shows us that tourism crises do not last long. For example, the first Iraq war in 1991 devastated regional travel, but visitor arrivals had generally recovered by 1993. The Asian financial crisis beginning in Thailand in 1997 had serious implications for the region but had bottomed-out by 1999 and tourism in many countries had recovered. The Luxor Temple massacres in Egypt abruptly stopped tourism inflows, but increased security measures and massive advertising restored tourism trends within 2 years. Recovery periods can be quicker but, in general, seem to average around 18 months.

A problem in one country may benefit another, as many tourists do not forgo their holiday but rather substitute a perceived ‘dangerous’ destination for a ‘safe’ one. However, if a region is considered to be politically unstable or threatening in any way, tourists will tend to avoid it. Over the long term this explains why regions such as Africa, South Asia and the Middle East have received only a small share of international tourist arrivals.

2.4.6 Human Resource Availability

In most developing regional countries, Africa inclusive, there is usually no shortage of people available for work but rather the problem is of the levels of skills available (Jenkins, 1997 ). Unlike finance which can be borrowed, human resource development is a continuing process and its direction and focus should relate to a country’s development objectives. Some of this objective might be general—for example, to increase the proportion of literate people in the country. In other cases, the development of human resources may be related to the needs of a particular sector such as tourism (introduction of hotel and catering schools, tourism industry training for employment in tour operations and travel agencies.) In the short term, a country can overcome these shortages of skills by importing foreign workers, but in the medium term this solution will give rise to repatriation of currency and possibly economic and social problems where foreign workers are seen as filling jobs which locals should be doing (Dieke, 2001 ). This is a difficult area and it is always advisable to have a specific human resources development plan for the tourism sector because of the wide range of social and other skills required.

Given this brief tour of issues the question now arises: what Africa can do to develop its tourism potential?

2.5 Prospects for Africa’s Tourism

In looking to the future, there are a number of factors that will support Africa’s international tourism development.

2.5.1 First, the Three ‘As’

It is now generally accepted that prerequisites for tourism development are attractions, accommodation and access. Without attractions—either natural (climate, landscapes, coast, mountains) or man-made (historic sites, theme parks, festivals)—tourism cannot develop. A combination of these attractions often put destinations on the tourism map. Las Vegas is the quintessential man-made destination and Egypt is an example of a country that has benefited from its history and culture. When at the site the tourist needs support services, particularly accommodation. Even if both are available, there has to be good access to the destination. Many international tourists today are described as being ‘cash rich and time poor’. Direct access to a destination by road or air is an important factor in development, as it saves time on travelling by indirect routes. In Africa there are many top-quality natural and man-made attractions, high standards of accommodation and infrastructure and a good transportation network; the basics for tourism development are in place and are being added to and improved all the time.

2.5.2 Second, Growing Regional Competition

The many regional countries (including Africa) now entering the international markets are providing a wider range of destination options for tourists. Competition will ensure that standards and value for money will eventually determine which countries and destinations will be most successful. An important consideration here will be how to improve service standards in a world where tourists are becoming more frequent travellers and accumulating tourism experience, which allows them to determine value-for-money destinations and to compare service standards. In the long-term, the availability of trained human resources may be the determining factor between success and failure of tourism investment. At present, much of the labour force in tourism is expatriate. Any programme to facilitate indigenous employment will require careful planning, a change in cultural perceptions and encouragement from the political hierarchy.

2.5.3 Third, Investment Capital

In some of the African countries there is no shortage of investment capital, but perhaps a reluctance to invest in the tourism sector. To a large extent such caution is linked to current experience where growth in tourism has been slowed, and in some cases, stopped by the ‘threats’ described earlier. However, our trend data has demonstrated that in the medium and long term, tourism is a robust industry and one that has greater sustainability than others. Creating a destination in a highly competitive market is not a short-term objective, it is essentially an incremental activity just like development in general. The strategic vision has to be long term, and the huge investment in infrastructure is a long-term commitment without which tourism will not develop.

2.5.4 Fourth, the Private Sector

Most of the regional infrastructure has been provided by governments. This reflects the fact that infrastructure is capital intensive, fixed and has a long-term payback period in financial terms. These conditions limit the interest of the private sector in investing in this area. More attention is being given now to public–private partnerships in which the government is building the infrastructure to facilitate the private sector’s providing facilities for tourists (and other users). As risk-takers, the private sector companies will only invest in areas where viable returns are expected from the investment. They are in the marketplace and their survival depends on their understanding of the market and, in particular, what the client wants and for what he is prepared to pay. In the region, there are signs that governments are moving to a more supportive and facilitating role in the tourism sector and leaving the development to private companies. This does not mean that governments only have a supportive role in the sector; as representatives of the people, government is the ultimate arbitrator of many of the important considerations in the sustainability of the industry, such as what type of tourism should be developed, where and on what scale (see Jenkins, 1994 ).

2.5.5 Fifth, the Environment

Environmental quality is a factor that has reached a worldwide audience. It is fundamental not only to the development of tourism but also to the lives of residents. There is some evidence that many tourists are reflecting their concern for the environment in their choice of destinations. Those destinations offering environmental quality can often charge higher or premium prices for services, but it may be that in the longer term, destinations that have deteriorated environments will not be competitive at all. Again, there is evidence in many global regions that environmental management is now regarded as an integral part of development planning.

2.5.6 Sixth, Market Demand

Despite the impressive growth trends in international tourism, the market is very under-developed. Using the UN World Tourism Organization’s statistics, only 3.5% of the world’s population travels internationally. Even in the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, less than 10% of the population has passports. The longer term potential for greater penetration of this market exists. Of course, to constitute a market, people must have disposable income to afford to travel, but as per capita disposable income increases people to travel more. Initially, travel is domestic, then intra-regional and eventually, long-haul international. Best estimates of all travel show that 80% is domestic and 20% is international. To emphasize the importance of some domestic markets, it is interesting to note that in 2000, the UN World Tourism Organization estimated international tourist arrivals to be 693 million; in China alone, domestic tourism movements were estimated to be in excess of 700 million. The question of what might be the constraints on future demand is outside the scope of this chapter, but one can safely predict that there is a growing and largely untapped market for tourism.

2.5.7 Seventh, Education and Training

This topic has been mentioned above. Any development of the tourism sector must involve consideration and analysis of the present and future human resources position (Emeraldinsight, 2019 ). Specific training programmes and human resource development initiatives will be required. To reduce dependence on and eventually minimize reliance on foreign labour require careful planning and focus (Dieke, 2003 ). In an era where it is now fashionable to talk of ‘lifelong learning’ and where technology is fast-changing, human resource development is a continuous programme which requires adequate budget allocation. It is important to emphasize, again, the importance of training in a wide range of skills, including management and information technology. This should not be confined to the formal education system. While formal training is obviously important, it may often be more beneficial and more cost-effective, in practice, to focus on informal training, either on-the-job or through programmes carefully tailored to meet defined objectives and targeted at specific types of individuals (Doswell, 2000 ).

If financial leakages arising from the employment of foreign nationals, especially by transnational corporations (TNCs), are to be minimized, governments and the private sector should collaborate in the formulation of policies and strategies to develop indigenous capabilities. If governments provide appropriate incentives, for example, TNC could develop training programmes for their African staff abroad or organize in-service training for them.

2.6 Conclusion

This chapter has dealt with some aspects of Africa’s prospects in the globalized tourism economy, namely, the role that global tourism has played and will play in the continent’s development process. The main emphasis has been on the implications of using tourism as a viable development option. There are a number of issues that might threaten such prospects. Unless these challenges are addressed, they might further undermine or erode the progress already made, in general development terms, given that ‘development’ is not immediate but is incremental. They will further marginalize Africa in the global ‘pleasure periphery’. Suggestions have been made as to how some of these challenges might be overcome. Particular reference has been made to areas that appear promising for the effective and sustainable development of the sector, including the need for basic facilitating investment in tourism—attractions, accommodation and access; the importance of respecting and appreciating the relative roles of both the private and public sectors; the need for continued investment in the sector and the significance of the growing regional competition. If any single idea could guide tourism in Africa to be sustainable, tourism ‘must be profitable to the communities to compensate for any dislocation of everyday life; it should gain the acceptance of the communities in relation to the type, scale and location of tourism development and planners should consider the need for protection of certain communities and sites and to meet their acceptable cultural standards’.

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Dieke, P.U.C. (2020). Tourism in Africa: Issues and Prospects. In: Baum, T., Ndiuini, A. (eds) Sustainable Human Resource Management in Tourism. Geographies of Tourism and Global Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41735-2_2

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Successful community-based tourism in Africa

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Community-based tourism (CBT) is intended mainly for underprivileged communities and is viewed as a form of tourism development that must be initiated, planned, owned, controlled, and managed by local community members, towards the achievement of their needs and wishes. CBT takes environmental, social, and cultural sustainability into account, and it is imperative that community members, regardless of whether they are directly involved or not in tourism endeavours, gain some form of benefit from it as well. CBT has been promoted as a way of development whereby the socio-cultural, environmental, and economic needs of local communities are met through tourism product offerings. It is known to contribute to the social and economic survival of marginalized communities in developing countries and to the preservation of natural resources in affected areas. In developing countries, tourism has often been observed as the spin around for small-scale enterprises and job creation, and therefore, the uplifting of the local community’s standard of living.

Where CBT is practiced well, there is a potential to provide some exceptional opportunities for communities by offering not only better benefits but also enhancing their contribution to the planning and management of tourism in their communities. CBT has emerged as a methodology to ensure that tourism is planned in such a manner that it benefits the community. CBT is tourism that is managed and owned by the community, including opportunities to include local businesses in the supply chain for local tourism consumption. CBT may enhance the sustainability of tourism projects by empowering local communities to manage their own resources. CBT seeks to reduce the leakages from tourism consumption that occurs in destination areas. The experiences of communities with CBT are varied across destinations. This chapter investigates successful CBT projects in Uganda and Kenya. These two case studies present lessons that will add to the body of knowledge on CBT in Africa.

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Digital marketing and tourism: opportunities for Africa

International Hospitality Review

ISSN : 2516-8142

Article publication date: 30 December 2019

Issue publication date: 14 July 2020

The purpose of this paper is to explore digital marketing and tourism with a focus on opportunities with a case study of Africa, motivated by developments in tourism particularly the increase in tourist arrivals and the growth of digital statistics in the digital era.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature review as a research methodology was adopted in this study, and the integrative literature review was the method used as well as content analysis to review studies in digital marketing and tourism relating to Africa.

This paper reveals that digital media, content and mobile advertising are among the trends in digital marketing and, thus, affords Africa the opportunity to market its attractions to tourists in this digital era.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies can explore quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the phenomenon of digital marketing in relation to tourism.

Practical implications

Other countries within Africa to adopt similar digital marketing such as digital media and creative content in order to manage the digitization of marketing activities in the tourism sector.

Originality/value

This study explores digital marketing and tourism with a focus on opportunities for Africa as a case study by specifically examining social media marketing in relation to tourist arrivals using integrative literature review and content analysis methods.

• Opportunities

Digital marketing

Mkwizu, K.H. (2020), "Digital marketing and tourism: opportunities for Africa", International Hospitality Review , Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 5-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/IHR-09-2019-0015

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Kezia Herman Mkwizu

Published in International Hospitality Review . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial & non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

Digital marketing utilizes electronic media to promote products and services ( Yasmin et al. , 2015 ). Digital marketing in Africa has been documented in reference to digital statistics such as internet users and usage in platforms like Facebook ( Digital Statistics in South Africa, 2017 ; Internet World Stats, 2019 ). For example, digital statistics in South Africa show that 28.6m (52 percent) utilize the internet and 15m users make use of the social media platforms with a record of nearly 70 percent weekly activities on social media platforms and, therefore, this highlights how important social media marketing is ( Digital Statistics in South Africa, 2017 ).

Tourism in Africa is growing with records indicating an increase in international tourist arrivals from 62.7m in 2017 to 67m in 2018 ( UNWTO, 2018, 2019 ). In 2016, Africa’s international tourism receipts recorded $36.2bn ( African Development Bank, 2018 ). In addition, reports from the African Travel and Tourism Association (Atta) and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) indicated that tourism in Africa contributed $194.2bn which is approximately 8.5 percent to gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018 ( Atta, 2019 ; WTTC, 2018). Furthermore, in 2017, South Africa had 10.2m international tourist arrivals and Morocco had 11.3m while Comoros had 28,000 ( UNWTO, 2018 ; Azeez, 2019 ). The WTTC (2019 ) indicated that African countries that led the world for travel and tourism GDP growth in 2018 were Ethiopia (+48.6 percent) and Egypt (+16.5 percent). The increasing numbers of international tourist arrivals provide opportunities for Africa to manage marketing strategies in the digital era including digital marketing.

Due to this development in tourism particularly tourist arrivals as highlighted by UNWTO (2018) , and WTTC (2018, 2019 ) as well as the growth of digital statistics in the digital era in Africa, this paper is motivated to expand knowledge on digital marketing by exploring digital marketing and tourism with a focus on opportunities for Africa as a case study by combining integrative literature review and content analysis as a research methodology approach.

Literature review

Digital marketing refers to the utilization of electronic media by the marketers to promote products or services into the market with the main objective of attracting customers and allow them to interact with the brand through digital media ( Yasmin et al. , 2015 ). One of the important techniques in digital marketing is social media marketing ( Chaffey, 2011 ). Digital marketing is also referred to as marketing online whether via websites, online adverts, opt-in emails, interactive kiosks, interactive TV or mobiles ( Chaffey and Smith, 2008 ). Mandal et al. (2016) defined digital marketing as promotion of brands using all available forms of digital advertising media to reach the target segment. For purposes of this study, digital marketing refers to promotion of products and services using digital advertising media such as social media like Facebook.

Tourism is defined as the social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes ( UNWTO, 2008 ). This study adopts the definition of tourism by UNWTO (2008) .

Theoretical review

The competitive advantage theory is adopted as a guide in this study which explored digital marketing and tourism with a focus on opportunities for Africa. Competitive advantage theory was developed by Porter (1990) and assumes that a nation’s prosperity is created by nation’s firms that are successful in the world market and competitiveness depends on the capacity to innovate and upgrade ( Porter, 1990 ; Gupta, 2015 ). Previous scholars mentioned the strategic importance of new technology as an opportunity to gain competitive advantages ( Porter and Millar, 1985 ). Yasmin et al. (2015) stated that digital marketing refers to various promotional techniques deployed to reach customers via digital technologies and mainly use internet. In using internet platforms, businesses can create competitive advantages ( Mandal et al. , 2016 ).

Past tourism studies have also used competitive advantage theory ( Dirsehan, 2015 ; Elly and Boter, 2014 ; Jani and Minde, 2016 ). The study by Jani and Minde was conducted in Tanzania and Uganda to investigate East African tourism destination competitiveness. Guided by the competitive advantage theory, the study found that accommodation and visitor services were the competitive advantages for Uganda while for Tanzania it was transport system and travel motivation ( Jani and Minde, 2016 ).

The registered digital growth in terms of internet and smartphone users indicates that innovations like digital marketing such as social media marketing through digital media platforms like Facebook can create competitive advantage in relation to not only nations and firms but can extend to tourism in terms of tourist arrival numbers. This paper applies competitive advantage theory to guide the main objective of exploring digital marketing and tourism by specifically examining social media marketing in relation to tourist arrivals.

Digital marketing and tourism

Digital marketing has been investigated by previous studies such as Chaffey (2011) , Yasmin et al. (2015) , Waghmare (2012 ), Gangeshwer (2013) , Kumar and Jincy (2017) and Lies (2019) . Yasmin et al. (2015) conducted a research which was on the effectiveness of digital marketing in the challenging age. The study used correlation analysis and found that the elements of digital marketing such as online marketing and social media marketing are highly positively correlated to sales increase.

Yasmin et al. (2015) highlighted that there are many advantages that digital marketing can bring to customers which are: stay updated with products or services, greater engagement, clear information about products and services, easy comparison with others, 24/7 shopping, share content of the products or services, apparent pricing and enables instant purchase. According to Yasmin et al. (2015) , digital marketing has seven elements which are online advertising, e-mail marketing, social media marketing, text messaging, affiliate marketing, search engine optimization and pay per click.

Bang and Roos (2014) examined digital marketing by concentrating on digital marketing strategy with manufacturing industries using a qualitative approach and found that small- and medium-sized companies mostly use homepage as a digital channel. This study concentrates on digital marketing with tourism particularly the tourist arrivals. Table I shows tourists arrival growth in 2000, 2014, 2017 and 2018 for Africa.

In 2018, Bala and Verma did a critical review of digital marketing to identify current and future trends in marketing for India. The study found that there is a radical change toward digitalization whereby consumers are looking and searching more on internet to find best deals. Furthermore, Bala and Verma (2018) argued that knowing which social media sites a company’s target market utilizes is another key factor in guaranteeing that online marketing will be successful. Other scholars investigated social media marketing and found that in tourism particularly in winery, most owners recognize the social, economic and emotional benefits of social media but not using its full potential because of barriers like time-consuming nature of social media ( Canovi and Pucciarelli, 2019 ).

The internet penetration rate (% population) in Africa by June 30, 2019 indicated 39.8 percent which is 525,148,631 users compared to 4,514,400 users in 2000 with Facebook subscription of 204,304,118 in December 2018 ( Internet World Stats, 2019 ). In addition, 525,148,631 internet users in Africa represent 11.9 percent of the world’s internet users. On the one hand, the world total average penetration rate is 57.3 percent which is 4,422,494,622 users and 2,199,428,570 Facebook subscribers in December 2018 ( Internet World Stats, 2019 ).

Digital statistics by Digital Odyssey (2019) show that one of the top digital marketing trends in Nigeria for 2019 is 17m active mobile social users implying potential business opportunities to explore customers with mobile marketing using mobile advertising since 50 percent of Nigeria’s population use smartphones. Past studies have mentioned that mobile technology allows consumers to access hotel websites in a variety of ways and through a variety of devices ( Murphy et al. , 2016 ; Smith, 2017 ; Ukpabi and Karjaluoto, 2017 ). In addition, Stringam and Gerdes (2019) emphasized on the need to improve load times to capture potential customers who access hotel websites so that the time to load hotel websites is not long. In general, 80 percent of Africans use mobile phones ( The Global Digital Report, 2019 ). Tables II and III show the internet statistics in terms of penetration rate (% population) and Facebook subscription for selected countries in Africa.

In Africa, Adeleye (2015) did research on social media marketing with a case of Africa by examining challenges of social media marketing in Africa and proposed that marketers can utilize passive marketing tools as sources of marketing intelligence and as active marketing tools meaning as platforms of communication, promotion, brand awareness, consumer interaction and a feedback mechanism. Equally, Begho (2019) mentioned that five digital marketing predictions for African brands in 2019 is creative content, customer capital, integrated marketing and communications, user experience and block chain technology.

Similarly, further literature on digital marketing continues to be connected to the concept of SME in the study by Pradhan et al. (2018) which was done in India. Pradhan et al. (2018) advocated that there is a need to conduct research to investigate the opportunities created by digital marketing. Therefore, in view of the recommendations by Pradhan et al. (2018) , this study contributes to expanding literature on digital marketing by exploring digital marketing in relation to tourism with a focus on opportunities for Africa. In exploring digital marketing in relation to tourism, this study specifically examined social media marketing in relation to tourist arrivals.

Methodology

This paper is a case study of Africa. The methodology deployed by this study is the literature review and content analysis. The literature review technique used is the integrative literature review approach. Literature review as a research methodology has been documented by previous and current scholars ( Torraco, 2005, 2016 ; Snyder, 2019 ). The integrative literature reviewed in this study includes reports, conference papers, online publications and journals to explore digital marketing and tourism with a focus on opportunities for Africa. Torraco (2005) defined integrative literature review as a form of desktop research that reviews, critiques and synthesizes representative literature on a topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the topic are generated. Furthermore, Torraco (2016) refers to integrative literature review as a distinctive form of research that uses existing literature to create new knowledge. Similarly, Snyder (2019) advocates on the use of literature review as a research methodology in business studies. Another scholar combined literature review approach and thematic content analysis to conduct research on role and place of content for massive open online courses ( Babori et al. , 2019 ). Therefore, this study uses integrative literature review methodology as well as content analysis to review studies in digital marketing and tourism relating to Africa with the main objective to explore digital marketing and tourism by focusing on opportunities for Africa, and specifically to examining social media marketing in relation to tourist arrivals.

The reviewed literature and the analyzed content in the literature including Tables I–III reveal that there is growth in both digital marketing and tourism in Africa. The records of international tourist arrivals by UNWTO (2015, 2018, 2019) for Africa from 26m in 2000 to 67m in 2018 implies that there has been a steady growth in the number of tourist arrivals to Africa. On the other hand, the increase in digital marketing in terms of internet and mobile users as per studies by ( Internet World Stats, 2019 ; The Global Digital Report, 2019 ) avail opportunities for African countries to engage in social media marketing as well as content and mobile advertising.

Tourism growth encompasses marketing in order to increase international tourist arrivals. The internet statistics by Internet World Stats (2019) imply that the top 5 African countries in terms of internet users are: Nigeria (119.5m), Egypt (49.2m), Tanzania (43.6m), Kenya (43.3m) and South Africa (32.6m). Equally, the top 5 African countries in terms of Facebook subscription are: Egypt (35m), Angola (27.6m), Algeria (19m), Nigeria (17m) and South Africa (16m). Furthermore, internet statistics by population of African countries suggest that the top 5 African countries in terms of population are: Nigeria (200.9m), Ethiopia (110.1m), Egypt (101.1m), Congo Dem. Republic (86.7m) and Tanzania (60.9m).

This study can conclude that in exploring digital marketing and tourism, there are opportunities for Africa as a case study. The opportunities in digital marketing exists in terms of social media marketing, content marketing and mobile marketing which are driven by population (e.g. 50 percent of Nigeria’s population use smartphones), internet and mobile users as well as social media capacity as Facebook subscribers which implies that digital marketing like social media marketing, creative content and mobile advertising can act as digital marketing trends, hence, assist to increase international tourist arrivals for Africa.

Implications

Practical implication from the outcome of this paper is that stakeholders in the tourism sector should consider digital marketing like social media marketing, creative content and mobile advertising as digital marketing trends in African tourism marketing.

The theoretical implication from the competitive advantage point of view, the literature shows that Nigeria has the competitive advantage of population, smartphone users and internet users over other African countries. Hence, Nigeria has the capacity to utilize digital marketing through text messaging and mobile advertising to encourage internet users to share tourism content within and outside Africa to enhance tourism growth. Egypt has the Facebook subscriber competitive advantage over other African countries, hence, it has a better opportunity in digital marketing in terms of the capacity to utilize social media marketing through social media to boost tourism. Although Ethiopia is the second largest country in Africa by population, the number of internet users is not in the top 5 list of Africa countries for internet users which means that this study recommends for countries like Ethiopia to encourage the use of internet to take advantage of opportunities such as social media marketing to boost tourism. On the other hand, Tanzania is 5th in the population list of countries in Africa and ranks 3rd in terms of internet users which leads this study to imply that Tanzania has a competitive advantage in terms of population and internet users to enjoy opportunities in digital marketing compared to countries like Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

Limitations of the study

The limitation of this study was on the use of literature review and content analysis method as a research methodology.

Suggestions for further studies

This study suggests that future research may use mixed methods approach of qualitative and quantitative so as to have a deeper understanding of the digital marketing phenomenon in managing tourism businesses.

Tourism: tourist arrivals to Africa in 2000, 2014, 2017 and 2018