Currently, there are approximately 345 million internet users in Africa, representing 9.3% of the total global population and a penetration rate of 27.7%.
These analytics presented in a hospitality report by an African online travel agency, Jumia Travel, reflects the opportunity that lies for tourism and the hospitality industry players in exploiting the internet to grow e-tourism.
The growth of 4G network has also extended to more than half of the African countries, with 72 live LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks in 32 countries as at mid-2016.
Although its adoption still lags behind the rest of the world with only 20% 4G population coverage, taking advantage of 4G solutions, currently in the market, will provide more efficiency and convenience to any e-tourism business.
For instance, the report identifies Wi-Fi as a top priority preference for hotel guests in Africa, with 23% demand.
For this group of travelers, most likely those who take up 31.4% of business spending, are looking for a fast and reliable network connection and a huge amount of bandwidth to ensure their dealings continue uninterrupted.
Investing in the 4G therefore can help hotels provide more personalized guest experience as well as improved operational efficiency.
Mobile services and technologies, generated 6.7% of GDP in Africa (around USD 150 billion of economic value).
This is expected to increase to more than USD 210 billion (7.6% of GDP) by 2020, while the number of unique subscribers is estimated to reach 725 million.
In this case, the more internet connected Africa becomes, the more likely the pressure will be for service providers in the tourism hospitality industry, to adopt the internet and reap from its massive advantages.
Capitalizing on technological advancements, presented by the invention of the internet, and its massive penetration in the continent, is sure to give players like hoteliers a competitive edge.
Possible direct ROI is prospective from increased bookings from new and return customers.
A notable fact from the hospitality report is that low levels of digital skills, remain a major barrier to mobile internet adoption, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Supporting digital literacy by tourism stakeholders in the continent, is therefore an essential element in promoting e-tourism in Africa.
In its aim to connect the whole world to the internet, Facebook launched its Free Basics initiative in 2016; connecting almost half the African countries to its free internet service.
Furthermore, the African Union recently launched the Africa domain name for the continent, a move that gives Africa its digital identity, and aims to decrease the cost of acquiring a URL, which then allows people and businesses to better reach the world.
Tourism, Travel, Hospitality, Conservation: News,Stories And Experiences From Allover The World
Showing posts with label Africa Tourism News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa Tourism News. Show all posts
Friday, 9 June 2017
Saturday, 27 May 2017
AFRICA: Some Of Africa's Complex Traditions
Bride Price
Lobola is an ancient and controversial Southern African tradition in which the families of a bride and groom negotiate how much the groom must pay for the bride.
All negotiations must be done in writing, never by phone or in person. The two families will not speak until negotiations are complete.
Spitting On Children For Blessings
Members of the Maasai tribe in Kenya and Tanzania spit as a way of blessing. Men spit on newborns and say they are bad in the belief that if they praise a baby, it will be cursed.
Maasai warriors will also spit in their hands before shaking the hand of an elder.
Jumping On Bulls
In order to prove their manhood in the Ethiopian Hamer tribe, young boys must run, jump and land on the back of a bull before then attempting to run across the backs of several bulls. They do this multiple times, and usually when naked.
Veils For Men
The Ahaggaren Tuaregs of Algeria are part of a larger group of Berber-speaking Tuaregs. In their culture, the men wear veils almost all the time.
However, they can take their veils off when inside family camps or while traveling.
Women Stay In Their Own Houses
In the Gio tribe in Ivory Coast, each wife has her own small house that she lives in with her children until they are old enough to move out.
The children never live with their fathers.
Women Don't Mourn Elders
In the Southwestern Congo, the Suku tribe honors ancestors and elders, when they die, with a ceremony held in the clearing of a forest.
Here, gifts and offerings are brought, but outsiders and all women are forbidden to attend.
Boy Children Grow Up With Their Marternal Uncles
When male children reach age 5 or 6 in the Northern Angolan Songo tribe, they are sent to live with their uncles on their mother’s side.
This is because chiefs inherit their position through matrilineal lines.
Wealth Determined By Number Of Cows
In the Pokot tribe in Kenya, wealth is measured by how many cows a family has. Most Pokot people are either “corn people” or “cow people” meaning that’s what they cultivate on their land, but all Pokot people measure their wealth by cows.
The number of women a man can marry is determined by how many cows he has.
Khweta Ceremony
This Southern African ceremony is practiced by several tribes and is how a young boy proves his manhood.
When they are of age, boys are sent to spend several days or weeks in a circumcision lodge during winter, where they’re put through rigorous and often dangerous tests and rituals such as continuous dancing until exhaustion, and circumcision.
Clans Named After Animals
The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania have strict policies against killing wild animals. They keep cattle and livestock, but leave wild animals untouched.
In fact, each clan is associated with a specific wild species, which they often keep close to them and treat as a clan member.
Himba Smear With Butter Fat And Ochre
The Himba people of Northern Namibia cover their skin with a mixture of butter fat and ochre — a natural earth pigment containing iron oxide to protect themselves from the sun.
For that reason, the Himba people often appear to have a red skin tone.
San People of Botswana
The San People of Botswana, also called Bushmen, are hunter gatherers who were evicted from their ancestral land in the 1950s.
They were forbidden to hunt and forced to apply for permits to enter reserves.
The San switched to farming but they continued to gather herbs for medication and plants for food. Deprived of the ability to hunt, San numbers dwindled.
Sudanese Latuka People
In the Sudanese Latuka tribe, when a man wants to marry a woman, he kidnaps her. Elderly members of his family go and ask the girl’s father for her hand in marriage, and if dad agrees, he beats the suitor as a sign of his acceptance of the union.
If the father disagrees, however, the man might forcefully marry the woman anyway.
Bride Grooms Fight
The Fulani tribe live in many countries in West Africa and follow a tradition called Sharo. Sharo happens when two young men want to marry the same woman.
To compete for her hand, they beat one another up.
The men must suppress signs of pain and the one who takes the beating without showing signs of pain can take the wife.
Traditional Cleansing
The Chewa people are one of the largest indigenous groups of Malawi but live throughout Central and Southern Africa.
When a person dies, one family tradition involves taking the body into the woods, slitting the throat, and forcing water through the body to cleanse it.
They do this by squeezing the corpse’s stomach until what comes out the rear end runs clear.
Lip Widening
When a girl becomes a teenager in the Surma tribe of Southern Sudan, she begins the process of lip stretching. The girl has her bottom teeth removed to make space for a lip plate, which is increased in size annually.
Lobola is an ancient and controversial Southern African tradition in which the families of a bride and groom negotiate how much the groom must pay for the bride.
All negotiations must be done in writing, never by phone or in person. The two families will not speak until negotiations are complete.
Spitting On Children For Blessings
Members of the Maasai tribe in Kenya and Tanzania spit as a way of blessing. Men spit on newborns and say they are bad in the belief that if they praise a baby, it will be cursed.
Maasai warriors will also spit in their hands before shaking the hand of an elder.
Jumping On Bulls
In order to prove their manhood in the Ethiopian Hamer tribe, young boys must run, jump and land on the back of a bull before then attempting to run across the backs of several bulls. They do this multiple times, and usually when naked.
Veils For Men
The Ahaggaren Tuaregs of Algeria are part of a larger group of Berber-speaking Tuaregs. In their culture, the men wear veils almost all the time.
However, they can take their veils off when inside family camps or while traveling.
Women Stay In Their Own Houses
In the Gio tribe in Ivory Coast, each wife has her own small house that she lives in with her children until they are old enough to move out.
The children never live with their fathers.
Women Don't Mourn Elders
In the Southwestern Congo, the Suku tribe honors ancestors and elders, when they die, with a ceremony held in the clearing of a forest.
Here, gifts and offerings are brought, but outsiders and all women are forbidden to attend.
Boy Children Grow Up With Their Marternal Uncles
When male children reach age 5 or 6 in the Northern Angolan Songo tribe, they are sent to live with their uncles on their mother’s side.
This is because chiefs inherit their position through matrilineal lines.
Wealth Determined By Number Of Cows
In the Pokot tribe in Kenya, wealth is measured by how many cows a family has. Most Pokot people are either “corn people” or “cow people” meaning that’s what they cultivate on their land, but all Pokot people measure their wealth by cows.
The number of women a man can marry is determined by how many cows he has.
Khweta Ceremony
This Southern African ceremony is practiced by several tribes and is how a young boy proves his manhood.
When they are of age, boys are sent to spend several days or weeks in a circumcision lodge during winter, where they’re put through rigorous and often dangerous tests and rituals such as continuous dancing until exhaustion, and circumcision.
Clans Named After Animals
The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania have strict policies against killing wild animals. They keep cattle and livestock, but leave wild animals untouched.
In fact, each clan is associated with a specific wild species, which they often keep close to them and treat as a clan member.
Himba Smear With Butter Fat And Ochre
The Himba people of Northern Namibia cover their skin with a mixture of butter fat and ochre — a natural earth pigment containing iron oxide to protect themselves from the sun.
For that reason, the Himba people often appear to have a red skin tone.
San People of Botswana
The San People of Botswana, also called Bushmen, are hunter gatherers who were evicted from their ancestral land in the 1950s.
They were forbidden to hunt and forced to apply for permits to enter reserves.
The San switched to farming but they continued to gather herbs for medication and plants for food. Deprived of the ability to hunt, San numbers dwindled.
Sudanese Latuka People
In the Sudanese Latuka tribe, when a man wants to marry a woman, he kidnaps her. Elderly members of his family go and ask the girl’s father for her hand in marriage, and if dad agrees, he beats the suitor as a sign of his acceptance of the union.
If the father disagrees, however, the man might forcefully marry the woman anyway.
Bride Grooms Fight
The Fulani tribe live in many countries in West Africa and follow a tradition called Sharo. Sharo happens when two young men want to marry the same woman.
To compete for her hand, they beat one another up.
The men must suppress signs of pain and the one who takes the beating without showing signs of pain can take the wife.
Traditional Cleansing
The Chewa people are one of the largest indigenous groups of Malawi but live throughout Central and Southern Africa.
When a person dies, one family tradition involves taking the body into the woods, slitting the throat, and forcing water through the body to cleanse it.
They do this by squeezing the corpse’s stomach until what comes out the rear end runs clear.
Lip Widening
When a girl becomes a teenager in the Surma tribe of Southern Sudan, she begins the process of lip stretching. The girl has her bottom teeth removed to make space for a lip plate, which is increased in size annually.
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