Africa’s Wine Regions: Exploring Attractive Untapped Investment Potential
Tourism News Africa
Although the South African wine industry is the biggest in Africa, with numerous accolades, Morocco is the second largest African wine exporter with considerable investment potential after South Africa. As a producer of world-class wines, few are aware of the depth of the rich and colourful history ingrained in African wines and that African wine regions are international wine exporters. Wine-producing nations in Africa provide hidden gems stretching back to the 16th century and ancient times.
There are wine-exporting nations within Africa, but Morocco is a rising star among the current exporters of wine from North Africa. The bottles are exported abroad and sold to travellers, non-Muslims, and hospitality establishments such as restaurants, wineries, and riads.
According to the OIV, the top 8 wine-producing nations in the world generated 76% of the total wine in 2021. As one of the top 8 nations in the world for producing wine, South Africa was responsible for almost 4% of all wine produced. The OIV ranks Morocco’s vineyards, which has 42 286 hectares of vineyard surface area, ranked 29th in the world. South Africa is ranked 15th with 125 586 hectares, whereas Algeria is ranked 23rd with 68 202 hectares.
These nations may be less well-known, but they offer highly acclaimed wines that are distinctly original and should not be slept on if you have a strong interest in wine. Both wine enthusiasts and curious travellers might find that it gratifies the palate as you explore the delights of Northern Africa.
The Euronews correspondent James Clarke is a perfect demonstration of the beautiful discoveries you might make when travelling, as he said, “I visited the Moroccan port town of Essaouira with many expectations from the walled city and medina. My imagination was filled with images of souks and cafes. But alcohol, and in particular wine, did not feature in my pre-Moroccan trip fantasy.”
The wine market is expected to increase to USD 456.76 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 4.30% between 2021 and 2028 from its current annual revenue of $29 billion. In contrast, wine tourism contributed R7.2 billion to South Africa’s GDP in 2022 and has the potential to see a significant upswing in the following year.
As a result of a wine estate’s surroundings and food luring interested visitors, wine tourists may spend up to 42% of their travel budget on wine purchases. In South Africa, just 45% of wine estates have restaurants, according to the South African Wine Tourism Report, 2022. Similarly, although 34% of wine farms provide overnight accommodations, 55% of their respondents indicated that they appreciated an overnight visit, revealing tremendous potential in Africa’s untapped gems.
Most visitors are moderately interested in visiting wineries and vineyards as an experience and may not make extravagant purchases. Wine lovers are more likely to travel to wineries to discover the many grape varieties grown locally or to look for specific wines, which makes them more likely to purchase bottles. Most visitors who go for wine-tasting experiences and tours show a heightened propensity to spend based on experiences.
