Tourism promotion is increasingly moving beyond traditional exhibitions and destination marketing campaigns, with countries seeking innovative ways to package their culture, entertainment and unique experiences for international audiences. A recent initiative involving Akwaaba African Travel Market and Zanzibar offers an example of how African tourism products can be presented to new markets while creating opportunities for cross-border collaboration.
According to The Nigerian Tribune, this scenario played out in Zanzibar during a recent visit by Ambassador Ikechi Uko, who stood at the edge of Stone Town’s old harbour, watching Zanzibar’s famous wapiga mbizi — the water skill jumping guys — arc into the Indian Ocean. They weren’t just diving for coins this time. On their wrists were Akwaaba blue bands. On their lips was one word: “Akwaaba.” It was Nigeria, marketing itself in East Africa.
The stunt was simple and deliberate. Uko, founder of Akwaaba African Travel Market, brought the Akwaaba brand to Zanzibar to show what he calls the “magic of tourism money.” No billboards. No TV ads. Just culture, courage, and a flag unfurled mid-air as the jumpers hit the water. “Tourism Money is like Magic Money. It keeps dropping from heaven,” Uko said later, laughing.
He had come to Zanzibar, not only to watch, but to learn why a tiny island could out-earn entire Nigerian states. The numbers explain it. In July alone, Zanzibar received 100,000 tourists. Every single one paid $44 for travel insurance to ZIC. Every visitor also paid $5 city tax, 18 percent VAT, airport tax and charges. Then came aviation charges for landing and overflights, and handling charges. The cash never stops. The spending doesn’t stop at the airport. “I stayed in a $390 a night ocean view room,” Uko noted. “Most rooms are from $90 to $900. The villas run in the thousand dollar range.” Add activities, dhow cruises, spice tours, and diving, and you see why the island keeps minting dollars.
Zanzibar is small — “smaller than a small LGA in Lagos,” Uko said. Yet, it turns that size into advantage. Limited land means high demand. “High demand means high rates. High rates mean tourism dollars that circulate through hotels, taxis, guides, restaurants, and the jumping guys themselves. The jumping guys are part of the product. For generations they have leapt from the harbor wall, twisting for tourists.
On the day of the Akwaaba stunt, they leapt with purpose. Each dive ended with a splash and a shout of “Welcome to Africa.” Phones recorded. The clip went viral in Lagos by nightfall. Uko’s message was clear: Nigeria has the same ingredients. “All you need is security, facilities, and access. Then Market and boom.” Zanzibar didn’t become a tourism dollar factory by accident. It invested in safety, cleaned its waterfront, built its airport, and told its story.
That story is now being told back home. The Zanzibar Tour Operators Association, ZATO, accepted Uko’s invitation and will be in Lagos from the September 13 to 15, for Akwaaba African Travel Market. They are coming with packages, rates, and partnerships for Nigerian agents. Akwaaba has become more than a fair. It is a bridge. This year it links with Accra Weizo and Seven Wonders of Nigeria. It also powers ATQ News, travellerstvng, and Jedidah Promotions to amplify African destinations to Africans first. The Zanzibar stunt was episode one.
What Uko saw in Zanzibar is what he wants Nigeria to copy: a tourism economy that pays every day; insurance, taxes, hotel, food, activities. “Tourism is a gift that keeps giving,” he said. “You don’t drill it. You don’t export it. People come to you.” The marketing was respectful. The jumpers were paid, credited, and given Akwaaba gear they could keep. Elders in Stone Town blessed the collaboration after Uko explained it was East-West, not foreign extraction. “We came to celebrate African talent,” he told them.
The impact was immediate. Nigerian travel agents on the Akwaaba WhatsApp groups began asking for Zanzibar rates. ZATO reported a surge in inquiries from Abuja and Port Harcourt. For the first time, a Lagos-Stone Town package is being discussed seriously. For Uko, the stunt proves a thesis he has preached for 20 years: intra-African travel will fund intra-African growth. You don’t need Europe’s tourists to start. You need your neighbor’s tourists. And you need to market with memory, not just brochures. As the sun set over the harbor, the last jumper climbed the wall, Akwaaba flag in hand. He jumped, the flag opened, and the crowd roared. Magic money, Uko whispered.
Part of Amb. Ikechi Uko’s visit to Zanzibar was to share the PAMOJA AFCON Roadshow and highlight the enormous tourism and business opportunities that the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) presents for African destinations and the wider travel industry. Uko noted that the last decade of AFCON tournaments has been largely dominated by West and North African countries, with West Africa producing more champions than any other region. Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire are among the West African nations that have lifted the continental title, while the region also regularly records strong numbers of qualifiers and quarter-finalists.
According to Uko, the scale of visitor movement witnessed during the last AFCON in Morocco provides an indication of what could happen when the tournament comes to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania under the PAMOJA hosting arrangement. Morocco reportedly recorded 600,000 unique visitors in one month during the last AFCON, despite having only two African airlines connecting it with West Africa. Uko said the figure raises an important question about the potential scale of West African travel to the PAMOJA AFCON.
He pointed to the prospect of six to seven West African qualifiers, visa-on-arrival access for West Africans, and connectivity from six African airlines operating more than 100 weekly flights into West Africa as factors that could drive substantial visitor flows. With more than one million potential West African travellers willing and able to travel, Uko said Kenya has an opportunity to capture a significant share of the market during the tournament. Against this backdrop, Uko’s engagement with the Zanzibar tourism community provides an opportunity to connect the island’s established tourism industry with the wider West African travel market, particularly as African destinations prepare for increased intra-African travel around major sporting events.
Uko also used the PAMOJA AFCON opportunity to promote the Akwaaba African Travel Market, the only international travel and tourism expo in West Africa. The PAMOJA AFCON Roadshow is set to participate at the 22nd Akwaaba African Travel Market in Lagos, Nigeria. The next edition is scheduled for September 13th–15th in Lagos, offering destinations, airlines, hotels, tour operators and tourism businesses an opportunity to establish partnerships and secure West African contacts ahead of the PAMOJA AFCON.
