The African Travel & Tourism Association (ATTA) has launched a new report at this yearโs Africa Travel Indaba that challenges how global tourism trends are understood and where they started.
โAfrica doesnโt need to catch up with global tourism trends. It needs to claim them, because they started here,โ notes the report.
Titledย Rooted in Africa, the publication shows how todayโs most talked-about concepts โ wellness travel, sustainability, slow travel and authenticity โ are not recent innovations but longstanding practices across African communities.
โWhat the world now celebrates as innovation is how Africa has always travelled,โ says Kgomotso Ramothea, CEO, ATTA Memberships. โWe donโt need to reinvent ourselves to stay relevant. We need only recognise the value of what we already have and tell that story with clarity and pride.โ
The report includes contributions from leading voices across the continent, including Singita, Green Safaris, Jacada Travel, Natural Selection, Lemala Camps & Lodges and African Bush Camps. It highlights locally grounded approaches such as:
- Wholeness-based wellness models rooted in ancestral wisdom
- Community-led conservation that predates ESG frameworks
- Slow safari journeys shaped by patience and presence
- Cultural exchange based on lived experience rather than performance
โWhen we recognise that Africa hasnโt been behind but ahead all along, we change not just how the world sees us, but how we see ourselves,โ continues Ramothea. โThatโs where true transformation begins.โ
You can download the report here.
IMAGE CREDIT: Photo by Nannawa Badiya via Pexels
