COMPARISON
BETWEEN US TOURISM AND EAST AFRICAN TOURISM
The East African region is endowed with abundant tourism resources
that could serve as the basis for tourism. These resources may be
categorised into the following dimensions: cultural/historical,
ecotourism/nature based tourism/rural tourism, and study abroad
programs. Example of themes that may be used for education for education
tourism are: monitoring bird migration to restore declining populations
and manage habitat change, improve the quality of national parks which
attract so many visitors surveying traditional herbalists of intestinal
parasites of remote villages,etc...
Markets for education tourism in East Africa may be grouped in four
categories: Intercountry
Intra-regional
European
North American
Intercountry: Countries of East Africa region cannot
expect to develop a sustainable edu-tourism based solely on foreign
tourists. They need to build and nurture the domestic
capacity critical for the long-term success of education tourism. Recall
that education tourism means any program in which participants
travel to a location as a group with the primary purpose of engaging in
a learning experience directly related to the location.
Inter-regional:
According to the WTO(World Trade Organization), intra-regional travel,
which is travel by Africans to other African countries constitutes the
most common form of tourism in East Africa.
In oder to stimulate it, member of East African community must
overhaul and strengthen existing travel and immigration protocols of
their respective regional blocks to facilitate easy movement among
nationals within the sub-region. In addition, national tourism
organizations and universities will need to work in a coordinated manner
to design and create edu-tourism programs that engender interests of
national of the sub-region.
European:
Most of East African countries have strong ties with England which is
their former colonial master. Those countries should negociate with
british institutions of higher learning to encourage british students to
travel to East Africa.
North
American: It
comprises for example universities and institutions offering area
studies relating to Africa like Historically Black Colleges and
Universities(HBCUs) and the largely African-American market.Direct
contacts and promotional efforts will have to be made with these
entities to stimulate and tap into these latent marktets curently
underexpoited by sub-Saharan African countries.
US tourism is also very developed. The main reason is that USA
is a very large country which offers a diversity of regions. But today
everyone knows that USA can be a victim of a terrorist attack at any
time. Tourism will be an ideal terrorist attack because:
- it is often
interconnected with transportation centers
- it is
interrelated with multiple other industries
- it is highly
media oriented
- it is often
non-historical when it comes to its customer data base, this is
especially true at attractions and events
- it must deal
with a constant flow of new people
- it is a
nation's parlor and symbolizes a nation's cultural heritage
- it is the
point where business touches relaxation
Since 11th september
2001(World Trade Center events) the number of people who are visiting US
had decreased because of the fear of terrorist attacks.
The top US states in tourism are: California, Florida, Texas,
Pennysylvania, New York, Ohio, North Carolina, georgia, Ilinois, Nevada.
The top 10 city destinations in 2002 were: New York, Los Angeles,
orlando, Miami, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Metro DC Area,
Chicago, Boston.
Tourism is the third largest retail sales industry.
In conclusion i can say that both East African and US tourism have
advantages and incovenients and that it's up to the Africans and
Americans to work hand in hand to promote those 2 forms of tourism which
can be complementary. In the 21st century the world will become smaller
and smaller(by the effect of globalization) so every one is invite to
expand his view by discovering new areas which can be more
ressourceful than his originary region.
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