Artificial intelligence is moving deeper into the travel distribution chain, with a new WTM Africa industry report finding that 72% of Gen Z travelers surveyed now use AI to plan their trips.

The finding shifts the conversation beyond whether travel companies should use AI for marketing. It raises a more fundamental question: can their products, prices, and inventory be understood and surfaced by the systems travelers are increasingly using to make decisions?

The 2026 Africa Travel & Tourism: State of the Industry Report, released by Africa Travel Week and RX Africa, identifies AI-driven distribution as one of the structural forces reshaping the continent’s tourism industry. The report says operators without machine-readable inventory risk becoming invisible before the customer reaches the booking stage.

For travel agencies, that puts greater weight on the quality of the information sitting behind their digital presence. Website content, destination descriptions, product details, availability, pricing, reviews and other structured information can increasingly determine how easily digital planning tools understand what an agency actually sells.

That is different from traditional digital marketing, where the objective is largely to attract a traveler to a website, social-media page or campaign.

AI-assisted planning can instead act as an intermediary between the traveler and the travel supplier. A traveler may describe a destination, budget or type of experience and expect a digital tool to identify suitable options. The commercial question then becomes whether an agency’s products are sufficiently clear, current and accessible for those systems to interpret.

The development comes as Africa’s tourism market expands. The WTM Africa report says the continent received 81 million international visitors in 2025, an 8% increase and the fastest regional growth globally. Aviation capacity rose 13.7% to 182.4 million departure seats, although growth was uneven: Eastern Africa recorded a 24.3% increase in aviation capacity while Central and Western Africa recorded no growth.

The scale of the market makes digital discoverability increasingly relevant to distribution. As more travelers use AI during the research and planning stages, being present online may no longer be enough. Travel businesses also need to make the information they publish usable by the systems through which customers increasingly discover travel products.

Olivia Gradidge, Marketing Manager at WTM Africa and ILTM Africa, said the report examines themes including “trust, AI and travel tech, traveler psychology, sustainability and authenticity.”

The report was commissioned to Big Ambitions, RX Africa’s content, communications and marketing agency, and includes contributions from more than 25 industry leaders, academics and practitioners across the continent.

For travel agencies, the implication is relatively practical: maintaining accurate digital information is becoming part of distribution readiness. An itinerary that exists in an agency’s internal system but is poorly described online may be harder for an AI planning tool to identify than one with clear product information, current prices, destinations, inclusions and booking pathways.

That does not make conventional marketing obsolete. It adds another layer to it.

The WTM Africa report describes the broader shift as one from aspiration towards verification, with operators increasingly required to provide proof of access, trust, sustainability and welcome.

In that environment, AI is becoming less a question of whether a travel company has an AI strategy and more a question of whether its underlying product information is ready for the next generation of travel distribution.

Source: traveldailynews.com

African aviation stakeholders have renewed calls for faster implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and greater liberalization of the continent’s airspace as the 10th Aviation Africa Summit and Exhibition concluded in Nairobi.

The two-day summit, held on September 9–10 at the Sarit Expo Centre, brought together governments, aviation regulators, airlines, airports, industry associations and other aviation stakeholders to discuss the development of the continent’s air transport sector. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) was among the international industry organizations represented at the summit.

Discussions at the summit focused on SAATM, aviation infrastructure, connectivity, digital innovation, safety, skills development and the regulatory environment, with participants examining measures to strengthen the continent’s aviation sector.

Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi called for stronger regional cooperation and accelerated implementation of SAATM, saying aviation was central to Africa’s economic integration.

“Aviation is not just a means of transportation. It is an enabler of trade, tourism, investment, healthcare, education, humanitarian assistance and cultural exchange.”

Mudavadi said African countries needed to address the barriers that continue to limit connectivity between markets on the continent, including regulatory restrictions and infrastructure challenges.

The call was echoed by RwandAir Chief Executive Officer Yvonne Makolo, who urged African governments to move from commitments towards practical implementation of the continent’s open-skies agenda.

Makolo said African aviation needed stronger cooperation between governments and industry players to realise the objectives of SAATM and improve connectivity across the continent.

The discussions also highlighted the continued gap between Africa’s geographical proximity and the availability of direct air connections between its cities.

The summit brought together representatives from across the aviation value chain, including airlines, airports, regulators, manufacturers, aviation service providers and industry associations. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) hosted the 2026 edition in Nairobi.

The Kenya Association of Air Operators (KAAO) participated as an official supporting association, with the summit forming part of its industry engagements on the development of Kenya’s aviation sector.

The program also covered aviation safety and security, flight operations, air transport, air navigation services, maintenance, emerging aviation technologies, and digital innovation.

The summit is part of the Aviation Africa series, which brings together African and international aviation stakeholders for discussions on policy, investment, technology and the future development of the continent’s aviation industry.

Kenya has called for stronger regional integration and accelerated modernization of aviation infrastructure as it hosts the 10th Aviation Africa Summit and Exhibition in Nairobi.

Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Musalia Mudavadi, officially opened the two-day summit at the Sarit Expo Centre, bringing together aviation leaders, policymakers, regulators and industry players from Africa and beyond.

Hosted by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), the summit is being held under the theme, “Breaking the Mould: Finding Solutions to the Key Challenges Hindering Africa’s Aviation Industry.”

Mudavadi said aviation remains a critical driver of economic growth, trade, tourism, investment and regional integration, but warned that redundant regulatory and structural barriers continue to limit intra-African air connectivity.

He said the reliance on transit routes through destinations outside Africa increases the cost of air travel and restricts the movement of people and goods across the continent.

“Aviation is not just a means of transport. It is an enabler of trade, tourism, investment, healthcare, education, humanitarian assistance and cultural exchange,” Mudavadi said.

He urged African countries to accelerate implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), one of the flagship initiatives under the African Union’s Agenda 2063, to unlock the continent’s aviation potential.

Mudavadi also called for greater involvement of national parliaments in aviation reforms, particularly efforts to advance open-skies policies.

He said industry stakeholders should engage lawmakers more actively to build support for reforms aimed at liberalizing air transport and strengthening connectivity between African countries.

“In Kenya, for instance, our constitutional framework is such that the role of entities like Parliament has become extremely pivotal in opening up key policy direction,” he said.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary said Kenya remains committed to upgrading its aviation infrastructure and regulatory systems, highlighting investments in modern air traffic management systems, digital aviation technologies and safety capabilities.

He cited the planned upgrading of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to global standards as a priority, saying the project would help the country cope with growing passenger and air cargo volumes.

He added that improvements to regional airports and aerodromes would support domestic tourism, agricultural exports and enterprise development.

Principal Secretary for the State Department of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Teresia Mbaika, said the government was working to create an enabling environment for a safe, efficient, sustainable and competitive aviation industry.

“Our mandate is to create an enabling environment in which aviation can grow safely, efficiently, sustainably and competitively,” Mbaika said.

She said the government’s agenda includes infrastructure development, improved connectivity, increased investment, human capital development and innovation, alongside responsive regulatory and policy frameworks.

Mbaika said Kenya aims to retain its position as one of Africa’s leading aviation hubs while strengthening its role as a major air cargo centre.

She added that the establishment of a dedicated State Department for Aviation and Aerospace Development reflects the government’s recognition of the sector’s growing importance amid rising cargo demand, emerging technologies and new air mobility solutions.

KCAA Board Chairman, Brown Ondego said Kenya’s long history in civil aviation provides a strong foundation for the country’s ambition to promote greater regional connectivity.

He said improved links between African cities and countries would create opportunities for trade, tourism, investment and the movement of people and goods.

Ondego said KCAA was proud to co-host the summit, which provides an opportunity for stakeholders to develop partnerships and translate discussions into practical actions for the continent’s aviation sector.

The summit, which runs through September 10, is expected to address some of the industry’s most pressing challenges, including the development of sustainable aviation fuels, digital transformation, the use of artificial intelligence in air traffic management, human capital development and innovative financing.

Stakeholders are also expected to explore measures for building a more resilient, competitive and sustainable African aviation industry capable of supporting the continent’s wider economic integration agenda.

Source: kenyanews.go.ke

Seated “Under the Mugumo Tree,” a panel titled “Still in the Game: Lessons from 30+ Years in Travel That No Strategy Book Can Teach” at the Kenya Association of Travel Agents’ 2026 Annual General Meeting in Mombasa, Mohamed Bafagih told a room of the industry’s next generation about the week his career fell apart.

When the planes stopped flying after September 11, 2001, Bafagih was working for Air France in Saudi Arabia, thousands of miles from home. The attacks triggered a sudden collapse in international air travel, as governments grounded flights, tightened security, and travelers stayed home. It was a shock that hit airlines’ revenues hard and forced many to cut back operations. Within weeks, Air France shut down its business in Saudi Arabia, and Bafagih was out of a job. His wife was expectant, his daughter was in school, and rent was due.

He sold what he owned and flew back to Kenya with nothing but his family.

“The biggest challenge was when I lost my job in Saudi Arabia during the Twin Towers attacks,” he told the gathering.

It was one of several such stories shared under the mugumo tree that day, a session built around a simple premise: that people who had spent three decades or more keeping the industry running had earned the right to be heard by the ones now taking it forward.

It was not the first time global events had reshaped his career, and it would not be the last. Today, 50 years after he entered the travel trade, Bafagih runs Vogue Tours and Travel Ltd, a travel agency in Mombasa, offering domestic and international ticketing, hotel bookings, customized holiday packages and other travel agency services.

Bafagih finished high school in 1973 with a distinction in geography, a subject he credits for shaping how far his ambitions reached, long before he’d ever left the country. “I knew the world when I was 20 years old,” he recalled.

He began his working life as a primary school mathematics teacher, a job he held for about three years before moving into travel. It was a different industry then: no internet, no booking software, just a phone and two well-thumbed reference guides that made up an agent’s entire toolkit.

“You had two books, ABC for the timetable of the flights, APT for the fares, and a phone,” he said. “And if you were good in geography, you were a travel agent.”

He had good timing, too. Kenya’s tourism sector was expanding fast: annual visitor arrivals had climbed from roughly 81,500 in 1965 to 343,500 in 1970, and by 1973, the year Bafagih left school, Nairobi alone was recording 418,000 landed air passengers a year, according to industry figures from the period.

Bafagih’s own path soon went international. He joined Air France and was posted to Dubai before moving on to Saudi Arabia. This trajectory placed him inside the airline industry just as Kenya’s tourism sector began absorbing a series of external shocks.

Arrivals had kept climbing through the 1980s, reaching about 614,000 in 1986 and 800,700 in 1990, as tourism became one of Kenya’s largest sources of foreign exchange. But the 1990-91 Gulf War knocked that momentum back, with arrivals dipping from 814,400 to 804,600 and coastal hotels disrupted before bookings recovered later that year. Later in the decade, political violence at the Coast in 1997 contributed to hotel closures and a 16 percent drop in occupancy, part of a broader slide in national arrivals from about 800,500 in 1996 to 672,000 in 1998.

Then came 2001. The September 11 attacks froze international aviation almost overnight. Kenya’s own arrivals fell 4.1 percent that year, with national statistics pointing to a collapse in confidence in air travel as a key factor; arrivals through Nairobi’s and Mombasa’s main airports dropped 11.6 percent. For Bafagih, the downturn wasn’t a statistic. It was the end of his job in Saudi Arabia, and the reason he came home with almost nothing.

Back in Kenya, he opened Vogue Travel. “I picked up very well,” he said of the business’s early years.

More than two decades on, he credits the company’s survival to a simple philosophy, one he says newcomers to the industry often overlook in the rush for fast commissions.

“You must build the business first. Offer great service. Have repeat clients. Build trust,” he said. “Avoid quick money: it is poison. Take your eligible commission. Be loyal to the customer.”

Bafagih is now thinking about what comes after him. He is candid that a family name on the door is not, by itself, a succession plan: anyone stepping in, including his own children, would need to earn it. “They need proper training,” he said.

It’s a philosophy that has outlasted more than one generation of the business itself. Vogue Travel has been a member of the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) for the better part of its history, long enough to have watched the association build up a dedicated presence on the Coast, strengthening its work nationally by making sure agents outside Nairobi are represented too. Bafagih built the company slowly, on trust and repeat clients rather than quick commissions, and that kind of standing membership isn’t incidental. It’s the same patience applied at the institutional level.

Where there is no family member ready to take over, he’s floated another route entirely.

“My idea was to give shares to employees if there is no relative to pick up the company,” he said.

His advice to anyone starting in travel today is much the same as the philosophy that carried him through two career-ending shocks. “You have to be patient, teach them, be hardworking. Help is very important.”

The reference books are gone, replaced now by booking engines, smartphones and, increasingly, artificial intelligence. The telephone on the desk has changed beyond recognition. The industry has been knocked down twice in Bafagih’s own working life alone, by wars and by a single September morning half a world away.

Fifty years after two books and a telephone were enough to make him a travel agent, Mohamed Bafagih is still building something meant to survive him.

Demand for air travel to, from and within Africa rose by 6.4 per cent year-on-year in July 2026, thereby outperforming the global market where passenger demand grew by just 0.2 per cent, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said.

The latest IATA global passenger demand data for July 2026 showed that African airlines recorded a 6.4 per cent increase in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK), compared with July 2025, reflecting continued expansion in the continent’s aviation market despite persistent economic and operational challenges.

The report said the strong growth in passenger demand was accompanied by an even higher 9.0 per cent increase in available seat capacity, resulting in a decline in the passenger load factor to 74.1 per cent.

According to IATA, the load factor for African airlines fell by 1.8 percentage points compared with July 2025.

The performance placed Africa among the stronger-performing international aviation markets during the peak Northern Hemisphere summer travel season. However, it trailed Latin America, which recorded 7.1 per cent growth in demand during the period, the report said.

Globally, total passenger demand, measured in RPK, increased by only 0.2 per cent year-on-year in July, while airline capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK), rose by 0.3 per cent.

The global passenger load factor consequently stood at 85.2 per cent, representing a marginal 0.1 percentage-point decline from July 2025.

The relatively weak global growth was attributed to collective declines among airlines in North America and the Middle East, even as other regions posted stronger performance.

Commenting on the development, IATA’s Senior Vice President, Sustainability, and Chief Economist, Marie Thomsen, said the peak Northern summer travel season had produced a largely positive outcome for the global aviation industry.

Thomsen said: “The peak Northern summer travel season is a mostly positive story for air travel. Overall growth of 0.2 per cent in July was achieved despite year-on-year collective declines by carriers in North America and the Middle East. Notably, traffic through the Gulf hubs continues to recover.

“Although high fuel costs, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions continue, carriers are expressing confidence in demand for the last part of the year with an almost 3 per cent expansion of seat capacity in September.”

Thomsen noted that traffic through the Gulf hubs was continuing its recovery, while airlines were maintaining confidence in demand for the remaining months of the year.

She added that carriers were planning an almost three per cent expansion in seat capacity in September despite high fuel prices, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions.

The African market’s 6.4 per cent demand growth comes against the backdrop of continued efforts by governments and airlines across the continent to expand connectivity, develop new routes, and capitalise on the growing demand for intra-African travel.

However, the 9 per cent increase in capacity, compared with the 6.4 per cent growth in demand, highlights the challenge facing African carriers in converting additional seats into passengers.

With the continent’s load factor standing at 74.1 per cent, African airlines recorded the lowest load factor among the major international regions covered by IATA in July.

For international markets globally, passenger demand fell by 0.1 per cent year-on-year in July, while capacity increased by 0.3 per cent. However, when Middle Eastern carriers were excluded, international demand grew by 1.5 per cent.

European airlines recorded a 3.1 per cent increase in demand, with capacity rising by 3.2 per cent and the load factor standing at 87.1 per cent.

Source: Guardian.ng