In 2022, Africa is ready to invite tourists. Yet, everything’s going to be a little different this time. Changes are coming – and that’s for good. 

There are 10 new trends Africa is going to be following to make its tourism infrastructure work better. Let’s take a closer look at that list. 

Firstly, Africa’s tourism corporations are going against a toxic practice of greenwashing. Now, greenwashing is more than a common thing in marketing. Even top brands don’t hesitate to use environmental agendas to make their products look eco-friendly, confusing progressive society that it serves their needs. It simply comes down to not even using motos, just using green colors – so far so good, our mentality takes it for eco-friendly automatically. 

Then, the second trend concerns Africa’s traditional cuisine. Have you ever heard of Pap en vleis? Ful medames, maybe? Africa’s countries have their own cuisine. These are, basically, can be split into groups by location: Northern, Eastern and Southern Africa. There are original native dishes as well, which might be an exotic experience for modern European tourists. Africa is up to promoting their gastronomy – sounds delicious!

Modern tourism needs to look towards inclusivity and accessibility. There should not be any minority group left outside. Those are: single-parent families, women traveling alone, people with disabilities, people with special mobility needs etc. Those groups are in great need of assistance and care. Taking that into consideration, Africa’s tourism sector is promising changes for the better.  

It is all about getting an experience. When it comes down to travel, we  all think the more expensive – the better. That is not true for Africa, for they are aiming at an exclusive approach and spreading tourists flow so there will be fewer crowds. Individual experience is a new luxury. 

Another trend is so-called ‘travel bubbles’. Africa now is to make our path between point A and point B much easier, arranging beneficial trips. 

Have you ever thought about contributing to the place you travel to? For it is essential for the places we visit to keep their environments safe and authentic. It is common that tourists are violating the local lows, disturbing the natural way of things. African travel sector is going to prevent this from happening. 

Slow tourism is somewhere about the same thing. It will be a trend to travel more emotionally and mentally engaged. Why trying to see every sightseeing place and going according to the schedule in big crowds when you can have your own independent, hasteless journey?

We all need to maintain a healthy work-life balance. That’s what hot top trends are for, such as: bleasure, flexcation and workation are for. Africa’s looking forward to not making tourists wait for their trip all year. The destinations are going to provide work-friendly environments and everything else an office worker may need to avoid burning out.  

The last but not least trend is making technology work for us. Going through the pandemic, people have become more technologically adaptive, and that is good news for tourism. People all around the globe have now the possibility to help each other, whether it is a giving shelter,  giving a lift to a hitchhiker, or a place to stay for the night. 

Those were the top trends for Africa’s tourism. Being highly commendable, they set the example for others on being rational, friendly and, for sure, welcoming.

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Airports Council International, the trade association of the world’s airports, has published the list of top 10 busiest international airports, where Dubai International Airport (DBX) takes up the first place. DBX is followed by Istanbul, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris as the top five busiest hubs by international traffic. 

The rankings are based on the preliminary compilation of 2021 global data from the airports around the world. 

Dubai International Airport welcomed almost 30 million passengers of 2021, which is a 12.7% jump from a year earlier. Despite the fact that the airport is still down by two-thirds on 2019, the ACI’s international passenger traffic figures are reassuring, which is paving the way for a slow recovery of travel section in the region. 

Dubai’s border reopening to foreign tourists in July 2020 has largely contributed to this matter. 

As for the overall passenger traffic rankings, international plus domestic, the position of the top busiest airport went to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport followed by Dallas, Denver, Chicago and Los Angeles. 

Remarkably, in total eight out of top 10 airports for passenger traffic are in the U.S. with the last two located in China. 

According to ACI’s press release, the total number of global passengers in 2021 is close to 4.5 billion, showing an increase of 25% from 2020. 

Eight of the top 10 airports for passenger traffic are in the United States with the two remaining in China. All top 10 airports have a significant share of domestic traffic, the traffic segment that has been leading global recovery. 

ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira thinks the 2021 data shows signs of a recovery, but it still might meet some obstacles on its way to the full rehabilitation. 

“The ACI World passenger traffic rankings tell the story of an encouraging trend of recovery, with most of the recurrent busiest airports pre-COVID-19 back at the top. Although we are cautious that recovery could face multiple headwinds, the momentum created by reopening plans by countries could lead to an uptick in travel in the second half of 2022”.

That was a tough time for all of us, and, even though the pandemic is not completely over yet, some countries are ready to meet guests. 

Restrictions are going to be finally removed on 2 May.

That means no more vaccine certificates, recovery certificates and no more masks…

Be ready to pack your things, for it is exactly the summer tourism season!

Abercrombie & Kent expands its cruises. 

Meet cruises to Europe, Africa and travel across the South Pacific!
Now, voyages-lovers have more places to get to.
A&K expedition cruises aimed to bring different people together to share their experience, to learn something new alongside enjoying the ocean trip.

El Salvador, a Central American country, expects over 170 thousand tourists during Easter holidays, which will contribute an estimated $160 million to the country’s budget, the Minister of Tourism, Morena Valdez, says. 

The Holy Week is a catholic cultural tradition, that commemorates the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, and it’s one of the most celebrated in El Salvador. Every catholic country celebrates it differently, but El Salvador does it in its unique way, something that attracts tourists from various parts of the world. 

For example, residents of Texistepeque have started the Easter week with an annual tradition with them dressing up as demons and playfully whipping bystanders. 

The demons, representing evil, and a man dressed as Jesus act out symbolic scenes, that represent temptation of Christ.