Africa’s people are often cited as being one of the best things about the continent. In fact, I would say that at least 80% of Western expats and local business leaders interviewed by How we made it in Africa say that the best thing about the African country in which they operate is the people, along with its geographical beauty of course.

The World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 ranked 140 countries according to the attractiveness and competitiveness of their travel and tourism industries, and this year 35 African countries were included in the report. One of the indicators used to determine these rankings looked at how welcome tourists feel in each country.

Under the category ‘Attitude of population toward foreign visitors’, 140 nations across the world were rated according to how friendly local people are towards tourists. Three African countries made the top 10 list. In addition, the majority of the African countries made the top half of the global rankings in this category.

Morocco is the country in Africa that is considered to be the friendliest to its tourists, followed by Senegal and then Burkina Faso. Below is a list of the African countries that made the top 50 in the global rankings.

Top friendliest/welcoming African nations for tourists

Africa Ranking	Country	World Ranking
1	Morocco	3
2	Senegal	6
3	Burkina Faso	10
4	Mali	14
5	Rwanda	21
6	Mauritius	28
7	Seychelles	29
8	Zambia	34
9	Sierra Leone	39
10	Uganda	40
11	South Africa	42
12	The Gambia	44
13	Ghana	46

Kenya is next in 51^st place out of 140 countries, with Cameroon (54^th), Côte d’Ivoire (58^th) and Egypt (61^st) closely behind.

The world’s most friendly nation to tourists, according to this report, is Iceland.

However, not all African countries fared well in this category. Of the 35 African countries surveyed, Chad (124^th) features in the last position.