{"id":271427,"date":"2020-04-13T18:58:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T21:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=271427"},"modified":"2020-04-13T20:08:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T23:08:07","slug":"africa-tourism-industry-could-be-in-for-protracted-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/africa-tourism-industry-could-be-in-for-protracted-slump\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa tourism industry could be in for protracted slump"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 There will be a slump in tourism across Africa \u2013 including the North African countries \u2013 before people are confident enough to go abroad again. So said former World Bank vice president and Poverty Reduction and Economic Management director Otaviano Canuto, who sat in a webinar panel hosted by Instituto Brasil \u00c1frica (Ibraf<\/a>)\u00a0this Monday (13). \u201cEconomic Cooperation amid Covid-19: Impacts and reactions to the pandemic in Africa\u201d also featured Ibraf chair Jo\u00e3o Bosco Monte and former Guinea-Bissau foreign minister Maria Nobre Cabral.<\/p>\n

The panelists discussed how the pandemic is impacting African economies. \u201cThe countries need to minimize their problems. Coronavirus will also impact tourism, and Africa needs help in the form of fiscal measures. Tourists aren\u2019t going anywhere, and things are bound to get worse,\u201d said Cabral.<\/p>\n

Questioned about the industry outlook in countries like Egypt (pictured above<\/em>), Mauritania and Morocco, Canuto explained that the solution could be in seeking out benefits from public and private organizations, because it will be a long time before activity picks back up. \u201cSub-Saharan Africa and North Africa countries whose revenue habitually originates from tourism will no longer be able to rely on that until people are confident that coronavirus is no longer a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Canuto believes countries must focus on healthcare to tackle what he called a big glow to people\u2019s confidence. \u201cLet\u2019s be realistic. What we need to do is help these countries manage themselves and cushion the blow of the crisis among the poorest,\u201d he said. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by April 8 there were 10,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa. Egypt<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the first in the continent to report a case \u2013 has 1,065 cases and 159 deaths at this point.<\/p>\n

Cabral said this is a global challenge that\u2019s affecting developing and developed countries alike. \u201cThe world will never be the same,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
North Africa’s travel industry is in for a protracted slump, said Otaviano Canuto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Questioned about self-isolation policies, Canuto warns that action must be taken right now. \u201cThe cities where people self-isolated did better [in containing the pandemic]. On the other hand, people can\u2019t self-isolate at their own expense. You need to provide credit and support to the states within the country. This is a catastrophe, and you need to make people safe so they can go through it. What scares me is the adoption of self-isolation policies without any support to the poor,\u201d he said, noting that in countries like Brazil, where informal labor is widespread, aid is even more crucial.<\/p>\n

The economist explained that alternatives to self-isolation, such as social monitoring, aren\u2019t practical in poor countries, since they are technology- and investment-intensive. \u00a0He said developed countries need to step up and help Africa right away, not only with ventilators and facemasks, but also through other forms of support and credit.<\/p>\n

So-called South-South cooperation is one of the ways to approach emergency measures. \u201cI believe that this is a good approach to cooperation. It\u2019s not about money, it\u2019s about sharing the lessons learned regarding anti-poverty economic policies. In these cases, I believe the North doesn\u2019t have as much to offer. Brazil\u2019s social policies have been recognized for their effectiveness. Much of Brazil\u2019s population lives in poverty. Not abject poverty, but poverty nonetheless. But the fact is that similar policies can be put in place through the sharing of knowledge and experience,\u201d said Canuto.<\/p>\n

In case no such measures are put in place, the continent risks facing a new crisis. Jo\u00e3o Bosco Monte said that post-coronavirus, there needs to be a discussion of food security across Africa. The panelists also said they fear countries may struggle getting products in or out amid the shutdown.<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Press Release<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The industry is expected to struggle before traveler confidence returns in a post-coronavirus scenario, said former World Bank official Otaviano Canuto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2324,"featured_media":271401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[14892,14155,14889,14891,2374,9692,9893,11228],"class_list":{"0":"post-271427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canuto","9":"tag-coronavirus-en","10":"tag-covi-19","11":"tag-covid","12":"tag-north-africa","13":"tag-tourism-en","14":"tag-travel-en","15":"tag-turismo-ar"},"wps_subtitle":"The industry is expected to struggle before traveler confidence returns in a post-coronavirus scenario, said former World Bank official Otaviano Canuto.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}