ABSTRACT
Conventionally, African debates about economic growth and development are dominated by issues around the potential of agriculture, mining resources and, to a lesser extent, the role of manufacturing. Less acknowledged is the seemingly hidden role and opportunities of Africa’s services sector for raising national incomes, employment creation and enhancing growth prospects. Within the service economy, the tourism and hospitality industry is acknowledged as an anchor for sustainable development, and identified also as one of the key sectors with a potential to evolve towards a green low-carbon economy (Scott et al., 2012; UNWTO, 2012; Gössling et al., 2013). At least for the past decade, the tourism sector has been viewed as vital for contributing to achieving several of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (Saarinen et al., 2013b). Arguably, it will likely remain in the forefront of activities surrounding the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the United Nations endorsement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals designed to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and address global climate change. Especially noteworthy, given the high levels of poverty across the African continent, is the importance attached to tourism as a lever for job creation, poverty reduction, improving livelihoods and catalysing local development prospects (Rogerson and Rogerson, 2010; Snyman, 2012; Spenceley and Meyer, 2012; Okello and Novelli, 2014; Saarinen and Rogerson, 2014; UNWTO, 2015a; de Boer and van Dijk, 2016).
