Over the past four years, the UAE has consolidated its position as one of Africa’s leading foreign investors, channeling more than USD 118 billion into a wide range of sectors. While mining, energy, technology and logistics continue to attract most attention, tourism is emerging as a strategic pillar of Emirati engagement across the continent, driven by both private capital and state-backed investment vehicles.
As African governments seek to expand and diversify their hospitality offering, Emirati actors are stepping in with projects that combine long-term commercial ambition and capacity-building objectives. From the Comoros to Morocco, and from Tanzania’s coastline to Egypt’s heritage sites, the UAE is helping reshape tourism infrastructure across both mature and emerging markets. This shift reflects not only commercial dynamics but also a broader diplomatic orientation: tourism as a lever for economic diversification, job creation and cross-regional connectivity.
Private-sector expansion: hospitality projects from the Indian Ocean to the Sahel
UAE-based firms have taken a central role in Africa’s new tourism landscape. On 27 October, Mayan Properties, a subsidiary of Resources Investment, signed a development agreement with Accor for five new hotel projects, notably a 159-room Mövenpick in Moroni (Comoros) and a 170-room Novotel in Nouakchott (Mauritania). Before this partnership, the company already had operations in Chad, Guinea, Morocco, the Republic of Congo and Somalia, underscoring a continental strategy extending beyond hospitality into logistics, real estate and public infrastructure.
In 2024, Dubai-based Jumeirah also marked its entry into African markets. The group partnered with Thanda to operate the exclusive Jumeirah Thanda Island in Tanzania’s Shungimbili Marine Reserve and a safari property in South Africa, adding high-end coastal and wildlife destinations to its global portfolio. The rise of luxury private-island and safari experiences, a trend noted across Africa, reflects an expanding investor ecosystem where Emirati groups now sit alongside global names from Europe, the US and Asia.
Wessal Capital, an investment vehicle partly backed by Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments, has also advanced large-scale projects such as the Wessal Bouregreg development in Rabat-Salé, positioning Morocco as a gateway for European and African tourism flows.
Strategic state-backed investments: heritage sites, global brands and national development agendas
State-linked funds are complementing private initiatives with major capital deployments. In March, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) announced the launch of the USD 120 million Sofitel Legend Pyramids Giza project, a 302-room luxury establishment managed by Accor and designed to reinforce Egypt’s tourism infrastructure near its most iconic archaeological sites. ADFD holds 84.28% of the project, demonstrating the scale of its commitment to Egypt’s tourism-led development strategy.
Mubadala has taken similar steps, investing USD 360 million in the Swiss operator Aman Group in 2023, allowing it to acquire stakes in assets such as the Amanjena hotel in Marrakech as well as two Nobu-branded hotels under development in Egypt. These moves align with broader Gulf investment patterns: large funds acquiring or developing premium assets in markets where tourism is central to national growth models, such as Morocco and Egypt.
For emerging destinations like the Comoros and Mauritania, Emirati projects provide not only infrastructure but signalling effects that can attract additional partners. In established hubs such as South Africa, Tanzania or Morocco, they contribute to market consolidation and the diversification of the hospitality offering.
Institutionalising the partnership: connectivity, job creation and continental
frameworks
The institutional dimension of UAE-Africa cooperation is also becoming more structured. The UAE-Africa Tourism Investment Summit, held in Dubai on 27 October, gathered delegations from more than 20 African countries and highlighted the UAE’s ambition to act as a long-term partner in the continent’s tourism development. During the event, the UAE committed USD 6 billion to Africa’s travel and hospitality sector with a target of creating 70,000 jobs, while emphasising the role of frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in improving intra-continental connectivity and investment flows.
Air connectivity already reflects this growing interaction, with approximately 550 weekly flights linking the UAE to African destinations, facilitating both tourism and business travel. The summit also pointed to opportunities ranging from green tourism and resort development to fintech solutions for travel services, in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 relating to decent work, industry and infrastructure.
As African economies diversify, the growing role of Emirati actors in tourism is likely to shape new forms of partnerships whose contours remain fluid. Much will depend on how governments and investors balance commercial ambition with long-term development needs, and whether this emerging landscape can generate shared benefits beyond the projects already announced.
