African Countries Seek More Chinese Tourists, but Use Flawed Strategies, Experts Say

Government inefficiency and bureaucracy remain major challenges to African efforts to lure Chinese tourists, experts say

Photographer Kevin Dooley, 60, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, captured a lion in the Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa. Kevin Dooley/Idube Photo Safaris

JOHANNESBURG—African countries are finding only limited success spending billions of dollars in an attempt to penetrate the world’s biggest outbound tourist market.

While China is the continent’s largest single trade partner, its citizens remain hesitant to explore a continent that’s often in the news for the wrong reasons, such as conflict, extremist attacks, and food shortages.