Côte d’Ivoire is putting artificial intelligence at the center of a tourism expansion that targets 10 million visitors a year and more than CFA1 trillion ($1.7 billion) in investment by 2030, as the government seeks to make the sector a bigger driver of economic growth and jobs.

Tourism and Leisure Minister Siandou Fofana said Sept. 27 that digital technology and AI will form a key part of the second phase of the country’s “Sublime Côte d’Ivoire” strategy, covering 2026 to 2030.

The plan comes as tourism already accounts for 8.7% of Côte d’Ivoire’s GDP. The country received more than 6.7 million visitors in 2025, while tourism generated more than 650,000 jobs between 2018 and 2025.

AI targets a bigger tourism market

The government wants AI to help Côte d’Ivoire move beyond simply attracting more tourists by making the visitor experience more personalized and digitally connected.

Authorities plan to use technology to understand visitor preferences, tailor travel experiences and improve access to tourism information. AI will also be deployed to promote cultural heritage, handicrafts, gastronomy, ecotourism and destinations outside the country’s main tourism centers.

The technology could also help authorities manage visitor flows more efficiently, giving the government better tools to respond to changing demand as tourist numbers rise.

Fofana said the state would create the conditions for wider technology adoption, strengthen digital skills and support an ecosystem designed to be competitive, innovative and capable of creating jobs.

At the same time, the minister emphasized that AI is intended to complement the human side of tourism rather than replace it.

$1.7 billion investment push

The AI drive is part of a broader tourism investment program following the first phase of “Sublime Côte d’Ivoire,” which ran from 2018 to 2025.

That phase focused on expanding the country’s tourism offering, attracting investment, developing Côte d’Ivoire as a destination and creating employment.

The results included a rise in accommodation capacity to nearly 87,000 hotel rooms by the end of the period. For the next phase, the government wants to push annual visitor numbers to 10 million by 2030 and place Côte d’Ivoire among Africa’s five leading tourism destinations.

More than CFA1 trillion ($1.7 billion) in investment is expected to be mobilized during 2026-2030.

For Côte d’Ivoire, the combination of AI adoption and new tourism investment is intended to strengthen the sector’s contribution to GDP, employment and international competitiveness while giving regional destinations a larger role in the country’s tourism economy.