African tourism - a potential destination.

As part of the "Joining Hands to Combat the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic" program, the UNESCO Hanoi Travel Club collaborated with tourism organizations and associations to hold a "Seminar - Exchange - Sharing Experiences and Stimulating Outbound Tours" on February 27th.

At the seminar, the topic "Developing the African market and sharing tourist destinations" attracted significant interest from travel businesses.

As a newly developing tourism market in Vietnam, Africa remains a little-known potential destination, despite possessing some of the world's most distinctive cultural identities and wild natural landscapes.

As the second most populous continent in the world and the third largest in area, Africa comprises 54 countries. This continent boasts many unmissable destinations such as Egypt, Madagascar, Morocco, Tanzania, Kenya, and more, but the most popular is undoubtedly South Africa.

The South African market, and the African market in general, is unique, unusual, and highly attractive because it is one of the few destinations in the world that allows tourists to immerse themselves in wild nature. Africa is the only continent with more than 40 vast nature reserves home to hundreds of rare wildlife species. Gone are the luxurious skyscrapers and bustling cities; the African continent is a land of abundant vegetation, unique wildlife, and extremely distinctive tribal cultures.

The market share of tourists traveling to South Africa and Africa remains small but is constantly growing. The majority are older people, with an average age over 40, who have traveled extensively around the world and have a great love for exploring nature.

As someone with over 5 years of experience in managing and researching African destinations, Mr. Doan Ngoc Tung - Vice President of the Club and Director of MTV Travel - shared at the seminar: "Although considered a high-risk market for investing in tour packages due to the difficulty of year-round tourism, Africa attracts a large number of tourists during peak seasons such as September to January because of its unique characteristics that cannot be found anywhere else."

Besides South Africa, one of Africa's most developed countries, Tanzania and Kenya are also two destinations that attract a lot of attention. Here, hotels are often developed as resorts in the jungle, allowing visitors to truly experience living amidst the wild nature. In these two regions, tourists can directly participate in the daily customs of the local tribes, such as fire-making, fire-keeping, and wedding ceremonies.

There are quite a few price options for traveling to Africa, but most tours are priced similarly to European tours. However, the cost of wildlife exploration trips is extremely reasonable because a large portion of the expenses go towards wildlife conservation and care rather than commercial purposes.

At the "Seminar - Networking - Sharing Experiences and Stimulating Outbound Tours" program, participants also shared their thoughts on topics of great interest such as: "Effective Management - Steadfastly Overcoming Challenges", Developing the Vietnam-US and European tourism markets, etc.

My Tong