From Borders to Bridges: Leveraging Tourism to Unite and Prosper Eastern Africa

Executive Summary

Tourism holds untapped potential as a strategic lever for accelerating regional integration across Eastern Africa. Despite accounting for 17% of export earnings, 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and 7% of employment in the East African Community (EAC), the region’s tourism sector remains underutilized. Intra-EAC trade constitutes just 20% of total trade, reflecting low levels of cross-border economic and cultural exchange. Africa’s overall share of global trade has stagnated at under 3%, a stark indicator of limited intra-continental engagement. Revitalizing tourism could stimulate intra-regional trade, improve mobility, and catalyze youth employment for the region’s rapidly growing population, 40% of whom remain unemployed. The sector also offers pathways to economic diversification, cross-cultural unity, and environmental sustainability, aligning with the aspirations of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). However, progress is hampered by inadequate infrastructure, fragmented regional branding, weak tourism governance, unsustainable practices, and skill shortages. This policy brief recommends a harmonized strategy to elevate tourism’s role in regional integration. Key proposals include adopting a unified tourism branding act, establishing a Tourism Infrastructure Fund, fast-tracking the EAC Single Tourist Visa, enforcing sustainable tourism standards ratified in 2023, and fostering industry academia
collaboration. These actions aim to position the EAC as a globally competitive, cohesive tourism destination capable of capturing a meaningful share of the projected $1.9 trillion global tourism market by 2030.