Major Tourist Areas in Africa

30 min

Let's begin

A family from Germany flies to Kigali, drives to Musanze and spends an hour with a family of mountain gorillas. A student group from Nigeria visits Cape Coast Castle in Ghana. A couple from Egypt goes on honeymoon to Zanzibar. All three are tourists in Africa, but they travel for different reasons. In 2025 UN Tourism counted about 81 million international tourist arrivals in Africa, about 8% more than in 2024 (UN Tourism, World Tourism Barometer, January 2026). Where do they go, and why there?

Definition

Tourism: travelling to and staying in places outside one's usual home for leisure, business or other purposes for not more than one year. Tourist attraction: a place, feature or event that draws visitors. Domestic tourism: tourism by residents within their own country. International tourism: tourism by visitors from other countries.

Types of tourist attractions

Wildlife: national parks and game reserves with large mammals, birds and primates (safari tourism).
Scenery and physical features: mountains, waterfalls, lakes, deserts, the Rift Valley, volcanoes.
Beaches and a warm, sunny climate: the coasts of Kenya, Tanzania (Zanzibar), Mauritius, The Gambia and the Red Sea.
History and heritage: ancient monuments, castles, old towns and memorials.
Culture: music, dance, crafts, food, festivals and traditional ways of life.
Business and conferences: meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), and sport events.

Major tourist areas

Region	Main tourist areas	Main attractions
North Africa	Egypt: Giza, Luxor, the Nile valley, the Red Sea coast; Morocco: Marrakech, Fez, the Atlas Mountains; Tunisia's coast	Ancient monuments, desert scenery, sunny beaches close to Europe
East Africa	Serengeti (Tanzania) and Maasai Mara (Kenya); Ngorongoro Crater; Mount Kilimanjaro; Zanzibar and the Kenyan coast; Bwindi and Queen Elizabeth (Uganda)	Wildlife and the great wildebeest migration, Africa's highest mountain, beaches, Swahili history
Rwanda	Volcanoes, Nyungwe, Akagera and Gishwati-Mukura national parks; Lake Kivu; Kigali	Mountain gorillas and golden monkeys, chimpanzees and a canopy walkway, savanna wildlife, lake beaches, conferences, memorials
Southern Africa	Kruger National Park; Cape Town and Table Mountain; Victoria Falls (Zambia and Zimbabwe); the Okavango Delta (Botswana)	Wildlife, dramatic scenery, coasts, a well-developed tourist industry
West Africa	Cape Coast and Elmina castles (Ghana); Gorée Island (Senegal); the beaches of The Gambia	Heritage of the Atlantic slave trade, culture and music, beaches
Indian Ocean islands	Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar	Coral reefs, beaches, unique plants and animals

Definition

National park: a large area protected by law to conserve wildlife and scenery, where settlement, farming and hunting are not allowed but visitors may come. World Heritage Site: a place listed by UNESCO for its outstanding cultural or natural value to all humanity, such as Victoria Falls or Nyungwe National Park.

Rwanda's tourist areas

Rwanda is small, but its attractions are close together. Volcanoes National Park, in the Virunga range in the north-west, is home to mountain gorillas and golden monkeys and to Dian Fossey's research site. Nyungwe National Park, a montane rainforest in the south-west, has chimpanzees, many monkey species and a canopy walkway; it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023. Akagera National Park, in the savanna of the east, has lions, rhinoceroses, elephants, giraffes and lakes. Gishwati-Mukura National Park, created in 2015, protects forest in the west. Lake Kivu offers beaches and boat trips at Rubavu, Karongi and Rusizi. In Kigali, visitors attend conferences and sport events and learn about the country's history at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which remembers the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Worked example

Worked example 1: classifying attractions. Sort these into natural and human (cultural) attractions: Victoria Falls, Gorée Island, the wildebeest migration, the pyramids of Giza, Kilimanjaro, a music festival.

Natural: Victoria Falls, the wildebeest migration, Kilimanjaro. Human: Gorée Island (a historic site), the pyramids of Giza (ancient monuments), a music festival (culture). Many areas combine both, which helps them attract more visitors.

Worked example

Worked example 2: growth in arrivals. UN Tourism counted about 74 million international arrivals in Africa in 2024 in its first estimate, and about 81 million in 2025. Using these two figures, calculate the growth.

Increase = 81 − 74 = 7 million. Growth = 7 ÷ 74 × 100 ≈ 9.5%. UN Tourism itself reports about 8%, because it later revised the 2024 figure upwards: always use one consistent series when you compare years.

Warning

Name the place and the attraction together. "Kenya has wildlife" is weak; "the Maasai Mara in south-west Kenya, for the wildebeest migration" is the kind of answer that earns marks.

Holistic Elearning Platform: wildlife conservation and tourism in East Africa (a Senior Two geography session). As you watch, add any tourist areas it names to your own sketch map.

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Practice

Define tourism and distinguish between domestic and international tourism.
Name four national parks in Rwanda and one attraction in each.
Give one major tourist area in each of North, East, Southern and West Africa, and its main attraction.
Explain why North Africa attracts many tourists from Europe.
On a sketch map of Africa, mark and name Victoria Falls, Kilimanjaro, the pyramids of Giza and Volcanoes National Park.
A park received 24,000 visitors one year and 30,000 the next. Calculate the percentage increase.
Explain why the Atlantic slave trade forts of West Africa are important tourist sites.
"Wildlife is Africa's only important tourist attraction." Discuss.

Show answersHide answers

Tourism: travelling to and staying away from home for leisure, business or other purposes for not more than a year. Domestic tourism is by residents within their own country; international tourism is by visitors from other countries.
Volcanoes (mountain gorillas, golden monkeys); Nyungwe (chimpanzees, canopy walkway); Akagera (lions, rhinoceroses, savanna wildlife); Gishwati-Mukura (forest, chimpanzees).
For example: North, Giza (pyramids); East, Serengeti or Maasai Mara (wildlife migration); Southern, Victoria Falls or Kruger (waterfall, wildlife); West, Cape Coast (castles and slave-trade heritage). Accept other correct pairs.
It is close to Europe, so flights are short and cheap; it has a hot, sunny, dry climate and beaches; and it has famous ancient monuments such as the pyramids.
Check positions: Victoria Falls on the Zambia–Zimbabwe border; Kilimanjaro in north-east Tanzania near Kenya; Giza beside Cairo in northern Egypt; Volcanoes National Park in north-western Rwanda.
Increase = 6,000; 6,000 ÷ 24,000 × 100 = 25%.
They are memorials to the millions of Africans enslaved and shipped across the Atlantic. People of African descent from the Americas and elsewhere visit them to learn about and remember their history, and students visit to learn about the trade.
Against: Africa also has scenery (Victoria Falls, Kilimanjaro), beaches (Zanzibar, Mauritius), ancient monuments (Giza), heritage sites (Gorée), culture and conferences (Kigali). For: wildlife safaris earn a large share of income in East and Southern Africa, and gorilla trekking is one of Rwanda's biggest earners. Reach a judgement.

Sources and credits

UN Tourism, World Tourism Barometer, January 2025 and January 2026: international tourist arrivals in Africa. Facts used as stated.
Tourism in Africa, Tourism in Rwanda and Nyungwe National Park: Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, adapted by Ganzaa.
Photo: All Gizah Pyramids, Ricardo Liberato, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Photo: Kinigi, Ruanda, Nina R, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Photo: 1 Victoria Falls, PLBechly, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Video: Wildlife Conservation and Tourism in East Africa, Holistic Elearning Platform, embedded from YouTube.
Figure 1, table, worked examples and exercises: written by Ganzaa.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1Types of tourist attractions

2Major tourist areas

3Rwanda's tourist areas

Types of tourist attractions

Major tourist areas

Rwanda's tourist areas