A special commercial forum will be launched at the 57th ACI Africa conference in Livingstone, Zambia, to capitalise on business opportunities for African airports
Non-aeronautical revenues accounts for an average of 40.4 per cent of global airport revenue, according to the ACI World Economics Report 2015.
Africa is also expecting strong annual passenger growth of five per cent over the next 20 years, reaching more than 300 million passengers a year. The top 10 fastest-growing markets in percentage terms will be in Africa: Sierra Leone, Guinea, Central African Republic, Benin, Mali, Rwanda, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Madagascar. All of which are expected to grow by more than eight per cent each year on average over the next 20 years, doubling in size each decade. See the table below for 2014 and 2015 figures for major African airports.
Ali Tounsi, ACI Africa’s secretary general, said the emergence of the middle class population willing to travel and the stability of the continent have brought increased potential for growth.
“We hope to capitalise on this by bringing our retail stakeholders to the forum; those from the food and beverage, airport advertising, car parking and property and real estate industries. I think this is the future of Africa business and we need to wake up, take our position and not miss out.”
“The success and potential of African airports risk being hampered by rules and regulations that directly challenge their ability to generate commercial revenues,” an ACI spokesman added, “Creating a platform for the exchange of best practice and know-how will help to counter emerging threats and position the African airports business favourably to realise growth potential.” The ACI is made up of 62 members from 48 countries managing 250 airports and 28 business partners.
