{"id":34418,"date":"2026-05-13T16:31:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=34418"},"modified":"2026-05-13T16:31:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:31:27","slug":"african-tourism-leaders-push-for-easier-travel-stronger-regional-trade","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/african-tourism-leaders-push-for-easier-travel-stronger-regional-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"African tourism leaders push for easier travel, stronger regional trade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Calls for stronger intra-African trade and easier movement across borders have taken centre stage at the 2026 Africa&#8217;s Travel Indaba 2026 in Durban, South Africa (SA).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Tourism delegates and exhibitors from across the continent are urging African governments to deepen regional co-operation and make travel between African countries more accessible in an effort to boost tourism, trade and job creation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The discussions come at a time when SA has recently experienced protests linked to undocumented migrants and immigration concerns.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the event, Chunky Mdluli-Dlamini from the eSwatini Tourism Authority said Africans should work together to keep tourism revenue and economic opportunities within the continent.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think intra-African trade and tourism are very important. As Africans we need to collaborate more, travel between our countries and create opportunities for our people,\u201d Mdluli-Dlamini said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She added that while countries still need proper immigration systems and legal documentation, regional co-operation through tourism could strengthen economies and create employment across countries such as eSwatini, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zambia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34419,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-34418","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Calls for stronger intra-African trade and easier movement across borders","published_date":"2026-05-13 16:28:03","news_description":"Calls for stronger intra-African trade and easier movement across borders","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34420,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34418\/revisions\/34420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}