In a pivotal move for the future of African aviation and tourism, UNWTO and the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) have formalized their commitment with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), extending their partnership until 2025.

Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST) aims to provide an internationally agreed statistical framework to measure the impacts and dependencies of tourism on the economy, society, and the environment. The development of MST owes much to the valuable efforts and collaboration of 44 pioneering countries and more than 30 international organizations, as well as academic institutions and subnational institutions. African country members have substantially contributed to this global effort and multi-year process, including Cabo Verde, Kenya, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, and Uganda.

The 25th session of the UNWTO General Assembly in Samarkand was a significant event, marked by the robust participation of African nations. The assembly welcomed 1,100 participants from across the globe, with Africa contributing 121 delegates, a testament to the continent's active engagement and commitment to global tourism development.

The 8th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism was celebrated last October in San Sebastian (Spain) and counted on the important presence of Africa. Under the theme “Gastronomy Tourism: Back to the Roots”, the Forum presented an opportunity to deepen the focus on African gastronomy and its links to agriculture and cultural heritage

Since 2022, UNDP Tanzania and UNWTO have been collaborating on a joint project, titled “Tanzania Tourism Recovery through Digital Transformation and Local Economy Development”. The main purpose of the project is to support the tourism sector to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and become more resilient by focusing on building a green, innovative, safe and more inclusive tourism sector in the country.

UNWTO, in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has successfully developed a Tourism Dashboard for Morocco's Ministry of Tourism, Handicraft, and Social and Solidarity Economy. This tool, built on the Ministry's data model and statistics, involves consolidating Ministry databases, classifying resources, and constructing an interactive dashboard using Microsoft Power BI. The draft Dashboard has been delivered to the Ministry. 

Tourism is an ever-evolving sector, offering enormous potential for economic growth and development for Africa. However, to harness this potential fully, ensuring safety and security is paramount. It is within this framework that UNWTO, in partnership with UEMOA, organized a virtual workshop on "Safety and Security in Tourism in Africa", uniting over 50 participants from various African nations.

One of the flagship initiative of UNWTO’s Tourism for Rural Development Programme, Best Tourism Villages (BTV) launched in 2021, aims to propel local development by recognizing rural destinations that exhibit accredited cultural and natural assets and vision on sustainability.  

At the kind invitation of the UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for Central Africa, UNWTO participated in a three-day workshop aimed at building the capacities of local organizations, enterprises, and communities involved in ecotourism and conservation work around the two World Heritage sites in Cameroon. 

UNWTO has strengthened its collaboration with the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) with the aim of improving connectivity and advancing seamless travel throughout the region.

UNWTO brought together top tourism and travel practitioners of 20 countries from across Africa to explore ways to deliver more effective tourism communications and showcase the sector’s role as a pillar of development.