Indigenous Tourism in Africa

Abstract

It is estimated that Africa is home to 50 million self-identifying indigenous people with some of the richest and most diverse cultural expressions of humankind. The cultural riches of the African indigenous people, including distinct languages, cultures, and traditions, have the potential to attract tourists who wish to experience indigenous tangible and intangible African heritage. While indigenous heritage is seen as a vehicle for spurring cultural interaction, bolstering employment, and empowering communities, especially women, and allows indigenous people to retain their relationship with the land, in Africa, indigenous tourism remains underdeveloped. The natural assets (i.e., wildlife and landscapes) have become a powerful and dominating attraction for tourists to Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. Encouragingly, countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, and Tanzania have not only recognized indigenous cultures as a stand-alone tourism product but integrated them into their overall tourism development strategies. This chapter briefly explores key trends and issues associated with indigenous tourism in Africa. The analysis indicates that with the loss of prime native lands, loss of human dignity, the commoditization of art and culture, and diminishing cultural values, in many instances, the negative impacts of tourism appear to outnumber the positives to indigenous peoples in Africa.