Africa is talking seriously about becoming a bigger global MICE destination.
But there is a problem that can easily be overlooked:
Getting the conference venue right is only half the job. Getting the traveller there — and moving them around the continent — may be the bigger challenge.
That question was front and centre at the Africa MICE Summit 2026, held in Mombasa from 1–2 October, where industry stakeholders discussed infrastructure, investment, connectivity and collaboration as Africa seeks to strengthen its business-events ecosystem.
And the timing could hardly be more relevant.
Africa has the venues. Can it move the delegates?
Across the continent, hotels, resorts and convention facilities are increasingly positioning themselves for international meetings, conferences and incentive travel.
Kenya is a good example. Nairobi has established itself as a regional business hub, while destinations such as Mombasa are increasingly looking beyond traditional leisure tourism and towards conferences and corporate events.
But a world-class venue does not automatically make a destination competitive.
At the MICE Summit, industry players highlighted high airfares, limited regional connectivity, visa restrictions and aviation-related costs as barriers to growing Africa’s share of international business events. Kenya News Agency reported that Africa accounted for only about 4% of the global MICE market in 2025.
For an international conference organiser, these factors matter.
If getting from London to Nairobi is relatively straightforward but connecting onward to another African destination is expensive, complicated or requires multiple stops, the destination becomes harder to sell.
The conference may be excellent.
The journey may not be.
Jambojet shows how fragile regional connectivity can be
Recent developments in Kenya’s aviation market provide an interesting illustration.
Jambojet has suspended its direct Mombasa–Zanzibar service, with rising fuel costs and Tanzania’s mandatory travel-insurance requirement contributing to the route becoming commercially unviable.
At the same time, the airline has returned to the Nairobi–Entebbe route with daily flights, reopening a direct connection between two important East African business markets.
These are two very different developments, but together they reveal something important:
Connectivity follows economics.
Airlines need routes with sustainable demand and workable operating costs. When those economics change, routes can disappear just as quickly as new ones appear.
And fuel is becoming an increasingly important part of that equation.
The fuel problem is bigger than one airline
It would be too simplistic to say that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East caused Jambojet’s Mombasa–Zanzibar suspension. The airline cited its own route economics, including fuel costs and Tanzania’s insurance requirement.
But there is a wider connection.
The conflict involving Iran and continuing instability around Middle Eastern energy routes have contributed to significant volatility in oil and jet-fuel markets. Reuters reported in September that higher oil prices were increasing jet-fuel costs, while Lufthansa said its additional 2026 jet-fuel bill would exceed €1.5 billion.
That creates a chain reaction:
geopolitical disruption → energy volatility → higher airline costs → higher fares or reduced routes → more expensive travel.
For Africa, where intra-continental air travel can already be expensive, this matters enormously.
MICE competitiveness is also travel competitiveness
Africa does not simply need more conference centres.
It needs an ecosystem that makes it easy to attend the conference.
That means better air connections, competitive fares, simpler visa processes, efficient airport transfers and reliable movement between destinations.
And there is an opportunity here.
A delegate arriving in Nairobi for a three-day conference could potentially continue to Maasai Mara, Amboseli, the Kenyan Coast or another East African destination.
A business trip can become a longer stay.
A conference delegate can become a leisure traveller.
An incentive trip can become a destination experience.
This is where the future of African MICE becomes particularly interesting: the value of the event does not stop when the conference ends.
At LeviaMICE, we see the journey around the meeting as part of the experience itself — connecting business travel with the leisure side of Africa.
Because Africa’s MICE opportunity is not only about attracting people to the continent.
It is about making the continent easier, smarter and more compelling to move through.
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