(Posted 18th April 2026)
Africa Travel Week, built by RX Africa, has released its annual
State of the Industry Report. The comprehensive, data-driven report examines the
forces transforming travel and tourism across the continent, from aviation access and AI-driven
distribution to sustainability compliance, inclusion and the next generation workforce.
The report arrives at a pivotal moment. Africa welcomed 81 million international visitors in
2025 – 8% growth, the fastest of any region globally – and aviation capacity surged 13.7% to
182.4 million departure seats. Yet the headline numbers mask a more fractured reality: Central
and Western Africa recorded 0% aviation growth while Eastern Africa surged 24.3%; fewer than
5% of African hospitality properties hold third-party sustainability certification, despite the EU’s
greenwashing ban activating in September 2026; and 72% of Gen Z now use AI to plan
travel, meaning operators without machine-readable inventory are invisible before the
conversation even begins.
“This report explores current themes and trends,” said Olivia Gradidge, Marketing Manager,
WTM Africa & ILTM Africa. “Including trust, AI and travel tech, traveller psychology,
sustainability and authenticity.”
Commissioned to Big Ambitions, RX Africa’s content, communications and marketing agency,
the report draws on contributions from more than 25 industry leaders, academics, and
practitioners across the continent, including environmental expert Dr Louise de Waal, director of
the Blood Lions campaign to end commercial captive lion breeding and canned hunting, Judy
Kepher Gona, founder and executive director at Sustainable Travel and Tourism Agenda
(STTA), and Luckson Zambuko, Founder of the African Youth in Tourism and Hospitality
Association.
“What struck us most when compiling this report was not the scale of the opportunity – that has
always been evident – but the specificity of what is now required to capture it,” said Dorine
Reinstein, Content Director, Big Ambitions. “The operators and destinations that are winning in
2026 are not the ones with the best product, but the ones with the best proof. Proof of access,
proof of trust, proof of sustainability, proof of welcome. That shift– from aspiration to
verification – is the defining commercial reality this report addresses.”
The full report, including a ten-point manifesto for African tourism stakeholders, is available
at https://soi2026.yop.co.za/ – required reading for every operator, investor, policymaker, and
destination marketer with a stake in the future of African tourism.
It was introduced by Carol Weaving, Managing Director of RX Africa, with a video at the opening
ceremony of WTM Africa on Monday, 13th of April, and supported by a panel discussion on the
Future Stage on Wednesday, 15th of April.
The panel, sponsored by LIFT and moderated by Dorine Reinstein, included David Frost, CEO
of SATSA; Judy Kepher Gona, Director of Sustainable Travel & Tourism Africa; Kwakye Donkor,
CEO of Africa Tourism Partners; Liesel van Zyl, Head of Positive Impact
and Product Development at Go2Africa; and Rashid Toefy, Deputy Director-General
for Economic Operations at the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and
Tourism.
The full video can be found here: WTM Africa 2026: ATW State of the Industry Report Launch
