By Reuters
DAKAR (Reuters) - African countries have lost almost $55 billion (Sh5.5
trillion) in travel and tourism revenues in three months due to the
coronavirus pandemic, the African Union (AU) commissioner for
infrastructure and energy said on Thursday.
Amani Abou-Zeid told a news conference the economic impact of lockdowns
and border closures to curb the spread of the virus would be severe,
with the continent’s air industry hit particularly hard.
She said tourism and travel represented almost 10% of the gross domestic product of Africa.
“We have 24 million African families whose livelihood is linked to
travel and tourism,” Abou-Zeid said, adding the downturn had come in a
year when Africa was expected to see an increase in travel and air
transport.
“The blow is very hard, between the economic losses and the job losses,”
Abou-Zeid said. African airlines have seen a 95% drop in revenues, or
about $8 billion, along with other losses such as the deterioration of
assets, she said.
“Some airlines in the continent will not make it post-COVID-19,” she
said, adding the blow came at a time when some airlines were in the
early stages of development, while others, such as South African
Airways, were in difficulties even before the pandemic.
Abou-Zeid said more resistant carriers such as Ethiopian Airlines were
using the opportunity to acquire smaller struggling companies, but the
outbreak had put a halt to the AU’s plan for a single African air
transport market.
Prosper Zo’o Minto’o, regional director for the International Civil
Aviation Organization, told the news conference that African airlines
would need an estimated $20 billion to resume operations.
Ivory Coast’s national airline Air Cote d’Ivoire, which restarted
domestic flights on Friday, said it had received 14 billion CFA francs
($24 million) from the government to keep it afloat.
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