African nations have secured strategic leadership positions within UN Tourism’s governance structure during the organization’s 68th Regional Commission for Africa session in Abuja which took place from June 11 to 13, 2025, signaling a shift toward continental sovereignty in tourism development.
The appointments include Angola, Kenya, Seychelles, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to the Executive Council for 2025-2029, strengthening Africa’s voice in global tourism policy-making. Zambia will assume the Regional Commission presidency from 2025-2027, with Angola and Nigeria serving as vice-presidents.
Africa stands at a pivotal moment in its economic evolution. While its cultural assets have long influenced global trends in music, fashion, and film, the continent’s creative industries remain undervalued in formal economic structures, especially in tourism. Traditional tourism models—dominated by international hotel chains, safari experiences, and travel agencies—largely bypass the local creators whose work gives Africa its unique identity. To fully realize the continent’s economic potential and promote inclusive growth, Africa must reimagine its tourism sector by placing creative industries at the center.
The Creative Economy: Africa’s Untapped Powerhouse
Africa’s cultural diversity is unmatched. Each region boasts its own music styles, storytelling traditions, fashion aesthetics, and visual arts. Yet, these assets are often sidelined from structured economic planning. According to UNESCO, Africa’s cultural and creative industries generate $4.2 billion in revenue annually and employ nearly 8.1 million people. However, these numbers pale in comparison to their full potential due to limited infrastructure, inadequate investment, and a lack of integration with key sectors like tourism.
Tourism and creative industries have a natural synergy. Tourists are not only drawn to landscapes and wildlife but also to experiences—live performances, art fairs, film festivals, local fashion markets, and authentic cultural exchange projects. Unfortunately, most tourism revenue still flows to foreign-owned airlines, hotels, and tour operators, with local creative entrepreneurs receiving only a trickle of the economic benefits.
The Missed Opportunity of Traditional Hospitality
The truth at the moment is that Africa’s current tourism model reflects a colonial legacy. Lodges, beach resorts, and guided excursions package the continent for foreign consumption, often detaching the tourist from real engagement with communities. This model may offer luxury and safety, but it restricts revenue flow to a narrow elite, reinforcing income inequality and depriving local creative talents of vital exposure and income.
—in bustling music venues, artisan fashion boutiques, community film screenings, and pop-up art shows. Yet, these experiences remain informal and fragmented, rarely connected to structured tourism offerings or supported by government policy and international partnerships.
Music: Africa’s Global Calling Card
African music has become one of the continent’s most recognizable global exports. Genres like Afrobeats, Amapiano, and Kizomba in Lusophone Africa are reshaping the global pop landscape. However, the link between these sonic movements and tourism remains weak. African cities should follow models like Havana (Cuba) or Kingston (Jamaica), where music is central to tourism.
African cities can build music tourism packages around concerts, studio tours, soundwalks, and talent showcases. These experiences offer international visitors a deeper cultural connection while directly supporting musicians, producers, dancers, and event organizers. The Kingdom of Morocco is leading the way as far as African tourism and creative industry synergy is concerned. with music festivals such as VISA for Music and Mawazine Rhythms of the World Festival drawing thousands of music lovers and international festival attendees to also experience the country as never before
Film and Fashion: Cultural Identity in Motion
African cinema has witnessed a renaissance through platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, with Nollywood, South African film, and North African storytelling gaining visibility. Film festivals such as FESPACO in Burkina Faso or Durban International Film Festival are ripe for repositioning as major tourist events, offering masterclasses, location tours, and cultural exchanges.
Similarly, African fashion—renowned for its bold aesthetics, traditional textiles, and storytelling—is globally celebrated but locally under-leveraged. Countries like Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana could develop fashion tourism circuits that include design workshops, textile trails, heritage fashion museums, and fashion week events that double as cultural showcases. The Kingdom of Morocco is a beacon on how to
Policy and Infrastructure: Making It Happen
Realizing the potential of creative-led tourism requires more than vision—it demands action. Governments must create enabling policies that:
- Offer tax incentives for businesses investing in creative-tourism initiatives.
- Establish creative districts with infrastructure support (e.g., sound stages, performance venues, co-creation spaces).
- Integrate creative experiences into national tourism marketing campaigns.
- Support visa-on-arrival and artist mobility programs to encourage cross-border creative exchange.
Additionally, digital platforms can be harnessed to promote curated creative experiences—connecting tourists with local talent even before arrival and enabling creators to monetize their offerings through e-commerce, virtual performances, and experience bookings.
Toward a Creative-Inclusive Future: How We come In
Africa’s path to inclusive economic growth and sustainable tourism lies not in building more hotels or importing foreign tour packages but in empowering its creative communities. One of such creative communities is Arts Connect Africa. At Arts Connect Africa, we are a pan-African community of top level creative industry professionals (in music, film, art and other creative industries) with members in over 20 countries and across all the regions of Africa. Our areas of focus are education for creative industry professionals, cultural exchange between African countries and beyond, as well as the economic impact of the creative industry in Africa for Africans.
At the moment Arts Connect Africa currently has access to over 30 arts festivals and cultural conferences on the continent and in Latin America. That alone equips us to serve in advisory roles for both multinational organizations and African government agencies who wish to understand how to leverage tourism and the creative industry in Africa and to reap the benefits. For instance, we are currently working with the Spanish Embassy in Nigeria and the Spanish Cooperation Office to deliver a MASA 2026 pre-event training for performing artists in Ibadan,Nigeria this July. We have similar educational programs across Africa that we are working with partners to implement. We are also in contact with a major American record label who want to bring some of the global stars on their roster on festival tours across Africa.
By embracing the continent’s vibrant music, film, fashion, and arts scenes as core tourism assets, African nations can shift from extractive tourism to regenerative economies—where every cultural encounter becomes a source of pride, income, and connection.
This shift won’t happen overnight, but the blueprint is clear: center the creative industry, decentralize the tourism economy, and create unforgettable experiences that honor Africa’s soul. Lagos in December 2024 is already proof of the potential that a strong tourism sector in Africa has. particularly during the “Detty December” festivities, generating over $71.6 million in revenue from tourism, hospitality, and entertainment.
