Africa's travel and tourism industry has lost $55-billion due to the closure of borders to limit the spread of coronavirus, the African Union said Thursday.
On a continent where safaris are a powerful tourist magnet, the sector has been badly hit by lockdowns that shuttered air, land and sea borders.
"We are talking here about $55 billion lost within three months in a year when we were supposed to see an increase in travel and air transport," she warned."There are airlines that may not survive Covid-19."Despite a steady rise in coronavirus cases, countries across Africa are forging ahead with plans to resume air traffic.
"As we are going to open... we are also now pushing for intra-African tourism," Abou-Zeid said, calling for lower taxes, reduced ticket fees and visa facilitation to encourage"Africans to see Africa". WHO regional chief Matshidiso Moeti has warned of a"certain underestimation of cases" due to test kit shortages and the tendency to test only symptomatic patients
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