Boosting regional tourism in Eastern Africa: exploring the potential of urban tourism

Abstract

The study was guided by the overall goal of examining how Eastern Africa urban centers can position themselves as competitive tourism destinations by assessing the opportunities and challenges presented by the rapidly urbanizing Tourism increasingly plays a significant role in regional socio-economic development, especially in developing countries – including the Eastern Africa region. Despite the steady growth of tourism in Eastern Africa, the sector has not fully realized its full potential. A situation mainly attributed to several bottlenecks in the tourism sector such as the narrow tourism product offer, which is mostly focused on wildlife-based tourism at the expense of other tourism segments. Urban tourism development is considered one of the means through which the Eastern African tourism product offer can be diversified and tourist arrivals enhanced across the rapidly urbanizing landscape. However, most countries have not fully harnessed the tourism opportunities presented by the urban areas and there is very limited information that can inform sustainable urban tourism development. Viewed in this context, it was imperative to undertake this study to provide information to guide Eastern Africa countries to tap into the opportunities available in the urban tourism market segment and contribute to the sustainable development of the cities. The study was guided by the overall goal of examining how Eastern Africa urban centers can position themselves as competitive tourism destinations by assessing the opportunities and challenges presented by the rapidly urbanizing landscape in the region. landscape in the region.