Boost African Tourism—Tap the Diaspora
In this article, I will be sharing why African diaspora community should be your target market.
If you want to take a vacation to a new destination, who do you turn to for suggestions? Most people are naturally inclined to accept recommendations from friends, family and even strangers. Who better to recommend traveling to Africa than the diaspora?
African businesses can do more to identify, target and tap into tourism-related areas that would interest the diaspora.
Businesses can strengthen diaspora identity and promote ties to their home county and encourage them to participate in the local economy. Not only do diaspora bring new and fresh ideas, but also their values and financial assets that can eventually have an impact on local development.
Diaspora are changing the face of Africa through Medical, Leisure, and Business Tourism
The diaspora are an untapped resource for African tourism. Diaspora come in many forms: visiting friends and family (VFF), heritage tourism, medical tourism and business travel tourism.
Diaspora men and women can play an important role as advocates, ambassadors of their country, and helping promote visits to the African continent.
Because of lack of awareness of medical services available, diaspora could be potential clients and promoters of medical tourism. For example, Mexican diaspora and other nationalities often combine visits to Mexico with medical procedures and treatments, such as dental work.
Creating initiatives and opportunity for the diaspora could open Africa as a new destination for affordable medical tourism.
Why the African Diaspora Community are important when it comes to Tourism
We say Africans need to tell African stories. Diaspora can help facilitate these stories. Diaspora are legitimate stakeholders in the future of Africa tourism. Unlike international tourism, diaspora are more likely to visit during the slow, off-peak season hence boosting the tourism sector.
While diaspora might not spend as much money as foreigners (they know where to find better deals), diaspora could led to a geographic expansion of tourism in the country. Diaspora are more open to travelling to less visited destinations, stay at local hotels, and eat at a local restaurants, which supports the local economy.
The travel style of the African diaspora is difficult to measure and assess the impact they have on the community and the country as a whole. One challenge of assessing the impact of the African diaspora impact is that the data is not consistently measured or separated.
Diaspora tourism is a niche market and great opportunity for African countries to attract diaspora travelers as they reconnect with their roots, their past, and connect to their homeland.
As a tourism business agent, you have an opportunity to build a genuine relation with the African diaspora through engagement and offering experiences that the diaspora will never forget, hence installing in them a brand loyalty that will last a lifetime.
Attribution: Here are links to my sources and reference on this blog post that inspire me to write this article. You can read more about this topic by visiting the migrationpolicy.org , semanticscholar.org and diasporaalliance.org
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