Côte d’Ivoire intends to build AI into the second phase of its national tourism strategy, as it targets 10 million annual visitors and a place among Africa’s top five destinations by 2030.
Tourism and Leisure Minister Siandou Fofana set out the approach on 27 September, marking World Tourism Day under the theme “Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence to Rethink Tourism.”
What the sector already delivers
| 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Share of GDP | 8.7% |
| Visitors | 6.7 million+ |
| Jobs created 2018–2025 | 650,000+ |
| Hotel rooms | ~87,000 |
Phase two of the Sublime Côte d’Ivoire strategy runs from 2026 to 2030 and targets more than CFA1 trillion ($1.7 billion) in investment, following a first phase that ran from 2018 to 2025.
The stated AI applications
The government wants to position Côte d’Ivoire as a “smart tourism destination,” using AI to understand visitor preferences, personalise travel experiences and strengthen promotion of the country’s offering.
Specific areas named: cultural heritage, handicrafts, gastronomy, ecotourism and regional destinations, alongside improved access to tourism information and more efficient management of visitor flows.
“The State will fully play its role in this transformation by creating the conditions necessary for the adoption of these technologies, strengthening skills, and fostering a competitive, innovative and job-creating digital tourism ecosystem,” Fofana said.
He added that AI should complement rather than replace the human dimension of tourism.
No systems, partners, budget allocation or timeline for the AI component have been disclosed.
What sits behind it
Côte d’Ivoire’s AI ambitions have more infrastructure behind them than most tourism announcements of this kind.
The country secured a $95 million UAE funding commitment covering a modular data centre, sovereign cloud and an AI and innovation centre of excellence, and signed memoranda with UAE-based Presight on public sector digitalisation and national AI strategy development. AI adoption is one of seven pillars in the Ministry of Digital Transition’s 2026-2028 roadmap, and the government opened applications in August for Ivoire Tech Next 15 and Ivoire Tech Scale Up, supporting 30 digital companies over 24 months with an explicit local-ownership requirement.
Côte d’Ivoire also co-adopted a shared AI governance framework with five other Francophone West African states in July.
Tourism is therefore a sector application of an existing national programme rather than a standalone initiative — which distinguishes it from announcements where the AI framing arrives without a base.
The same theme, across the continent
World Tourism Day’s 2026 theme has produced parallel announcements.
Zimbabwe placed AI at the centre of its tourism strategy at the Sanganai/Hlanganani Dzimbahwe expo in Masvingo this month, under the near-identical theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism,” with tourism investment up 229% to $132.3 million in the first half of 2026.
South African Tourism is further along in practice, having launched Siyanda, an AI travel assistant providing personalised recommendations, in January.
The distinction worth watching is between strategies that name AI and destinations that deploy it. Côte d’Ivoire has the investment framework and the digital infrastructure commitments. What it has not yet announced is a product.
