The growth engine in Africa is stunted. Freer movement of people, goods and services could inject $168 billion into the economy and add 18 dignified million jobs in the continent.
A few years ago, my then global governance team at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) gathered for a retreat in Nairobi. We flew in colleagues from New York alongside team members from within Africa. The fare from New York was shockingly cheaper, nearly 50 percent less than the ticket we had to buy for a colleague traveling from Kinshasa. That absurd imbalance was not a mistake of a travel agency’s booking system. It was a lived symptom of a larger problem: moving people across African borders is unnecessarily slow, ridiculously expensive and very inefficient. These costs are paid in lost opportunities for jobs, trade and investment.
The scale of the prize
Travel and tourism matter for Africa. Analysts project the sector could contribute more than $350 billion to the continent’s economy over the next decade. With the right policies, that figure could rise by an additional $168 billion, while creating over 18 million jobs. These are not luxuries. Aviation and cross-border mobility are engines of growth, employment and resilience.
Yet, Africa consistently underperforms in these areas. Non-tariff barriers such as visa complexities, punitive departure and arrival taxes, fragmented air services and weak connections cumulatively choke the flow of people and the economic activities they bring. UNCTAD’s recent analysis underscores that improving connectivity, business conditions and integration is essential for building resilient value chains across the continent. They are a prerequisite to bringing AfCFTA to life.
How removing barriers translates into wealth creation
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that a targeted package of reforms could unlock annualized travel sector growth of about 6.5 percent, adding $168 billion over ten years. But even those figures are said to be conservative.
Lower fares and freer movement stimulate hotels, restaurants, conferences, SMEs, tourism product development, inter-regional trade and business services. These activities recirculate income domestically and regionally, deepening Africa’s circular economy.
Imagine cutting average intra-African air fares by 30–40 percent through lower taxes and greater low-cost carrier competition, combined with visa-free travel policies like Kenya’s recent move to exempt nearly all African passport holders. The immediate effect would be a surge in short-term business travel, conferences and tourism. Over three to five years, that surge would raise hotel occupancy, create new enterprises, increase cross-border procurement and strengthen regional supply chains. The compounding growth path could plausibly move tens of billions of incremental USD into local economies beyond the WTTC’s baseline projections.
Here are 5 practical policy solutions
- Launch an African Union passport and visa free travel for African citizens
An AU passport guaranteeing visa-free or visa-on-arrival movement across member states would remove the most visible administrative barrier to mobility. It lowers trip planning friction, reduces lead times for project deployment and encourages spontaneous business activities and exchanges. - Drastically reduce travel taxes and surcharges
Many African routes carry disproportionate departure taxes, airport levies and handling surcharges that inflate fares. Harmonizing or lowering these fees would make intra-African travel price competitive and stimulate demand and investments in supply. - Encourage low-cost carriers and open air markets
Opening markets to competition lowers price points, expands route networks and fills lower yield routes that currently have no services. Policy reforms that reduce airspace fragmentation and permit cross-border airline investment multiply connectivity gains. - Targeted investor incentives and infrastructure investment
Short-term tax breaks or public–private partnerships (PPP) for airlines and sub regional airports hubs plus streamlined ground handling and customs procedures will reduce operating costs and attract private capital into aviation and tourism infrastructure. - Simplify e-visas and digital entry systems
Modern biometric e-visas and electronic travel authorisations (eta) to reduce paperwork and border queuing, making short business trips feasible and productive. Kenya’s example shows the way forward.
Why progress stalls
These barriers are not technical. They are political and fiscal. Governments fear short-term revenue loss from cutting departure taxes and visa fees. Some retain restrictive visa regimes for perceived security reasons, protection of local businesses or to maintain diplomatic leverage. Fragmented national regulations create costly inefficiencies and protect incumbent national carriers against healthy competition. Infrastructure gaps and poor ground facilitation add hidden time costs that dissuade business travel and deter investment.
External politics also matter. Travel restrictions and visa pressures from non-African powers ripple back into reciprocal or protective policies inside the continent, complicating the environment for freer mobility.
What success looks like
If African states collectively commit to an AU passport, harmonized travel taxes, simplified digital visas and a competitive aviation market, the result will be far more than cheaper flights. We will see:
- An expanded tourism sector
- Stronger cross-border business ecosystems
- Faster humanitarian and development response times
- A new generation of regional value chains serving intra-continental demand
For humanitarian and post-crisis development actors, easier intra-African travel, movement of goods and services is not a nicety, it is a cost-effective tool. It lowers the cost of delivering aid, speeds up knowledge transfers and enables local entrepreneurs and service providers to scale across national borders, which are actually colonial constructs. The economic boom that follows benefits all African countries: more visitors, more business, more tax revenue from broadened economic bases and more resilient, diversified economies.
The call to action
The solutions are known. The business case is crystal clear. The proposed policies are good politics. The costs of inaction are measured in lost jobs, stunted businesses and recurring inefficiencies. Africa has the recipe. What we need is the collective will to cook.
