• The four countries are categorised as “Dawning Developers” - destinations with strong natural and cultural assets, emerging infrastructure and major upside if strategic investment and policy reforms are pursued.

   

• Zimbabwe leads on scale and leisure metrics, achieving the highest international arrivals among the four, and has further opportunities for growth in business readiness and governance.

• Zambia is the region’s business-travel leader, with business travel accounting for approximately 63% of tourism spending. The country also scores strongly on urban readiness, presenting immediate opportunities for MICE and bleisure tourism.

• Botswana stands out for its environmental stewardship and strong policy frameworks, with opportunities to further enhance the scale and geographic dispersal of visitors beyond its iconic safari nodes.

• Namibia scores highest on safety and offers a strong value proposition. There are opportunities for targeted investment to further enhance urban and environmental readiness.

• Air connectivity & scale: Zimbabwe and Zambia show stronger seat capacity and route networks; Botswana and Namibia need targeted route development to unlock new markets and reduce over-reliance on a few nodes.
• Product diversification: All four countries rely heavily on leisure/wildlife. The Index highlights immediate opportunities to grow culture, adventure, city breaks and MICE to smooth seasonality and extend average length of stay. 
• Sustainability & resilience: Botswana leads on environmental readiness but each country needs a clear tourism resilience strategy — from protected-area finance to encouraging more hotels to adopt sustainability standards.
• Visa & policy levers: Updating visa regimes and creating coordinated regional travel corridors (SADC cooperation) would materially improve multi-country itineraries and boost arrivals.  

Africa’s Eden is a tourism association representing Angola, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The organisation works to promote sustainable tourism growth in southern Africa, advocating for the region’s tourism sector and creating opportunities for its 400+ members in the travel industry.

Across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) JLL is a leading player in the real estate and hospitality services markets. The firm has worked in 35 countries across the region and employs over 1900 internationally qualified professionals across its offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Cairo, Casablanca, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nairobi. jll.africa