Sierra Leone Set To Launch ‘Wakabot’ AI to Help Curious Tourists Plan Trips

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Most African destinations still make travellers assemble a trip from a dozen browser tabs and a few outdated blog posts. Sierra Leone has decided to end that. Its new Sierra Leone AI trip planner, Wakabot, lives inside the official tourism website and turns a loose question about beaches into a mapped, day-by-day itinerary.

Nabeela Farida Tunis, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, launched the tool during World Tourism Day 2026 events, held under the theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism.” She called the platform the practical result of years of work to bring technology and data into the national tourism sector.

“For us, this means using technology responsibly to make the living easier to discover, easier to explore, and better connected to the world,” Tunis said at the launch.

Passporter built Wakabot, and the Ministry calls it the country’s first AI-based travel planner. The Ministry and Passporter signed an agreement on 16 July 2026 to run a three-month pilot of the platform.

Wakabot does not run as a separate app. A visitor opens a chat on the tourism website, asks about beaches or adventure activities, and receives matching suggestions. The visitor saves places along the way, then enters the trip length and the travelling party. The system produces a full itinerary.

The tool learns from the site itself. Diego Rodriguez Royo, who leads Passporter, told the launch audience during a live demonstration that the technology reads content already published on the national tourism website and converts it into a working knowledge base. “Innovation is a constant development,” he said. The platform will improve as the Ministry adds content and studies traveller behaviour.

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Mapping tools link to every itinerary, so users see routes between chosen sites and rework plans on the spot. Travellers download, email, store offline or share finished plans with friends and family. Future updates will let them invite companions into a shared trip and keep travel documents in the same workspace.

Why the Sierra Leone AI Trip Planner Reaches Beyond One Website

Planning a trip to a lesser-known West African destination usually stalls at the research stage. Wakabot answers questions on transport, safety, health, mobility and entry documents in one place, and it will recommend attractions, hotels and restaurants as the content base grows. That consolidation removes much of the guesswork.

Travellers already behave this way elsewhere. Global Rescue’s quarterly surveys of experienced travellers found that AI use for trip planning more than doubled, from 11% to 24%, between October 2024 and July 2025.

Phocuswright research found that nearly four in ten US travellers used generative AI to research trips in 2025. Africa has momentum to protect. UN Tourism recorded 81 million international arrivals on the continent in 2025, an 8% rise and the fastest growth of any region.

Sierra Leone starts from a small base. The World Bank counted 71,000 international arrivals in 2019, the last year in its published series. Lungi International Airport handled 127,177 incoming passengers in 2024, up from 119,005 in 2023, according to the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority. That count covers all incoming passengers, not tourists alone.

The partnership followed a UN Tourism recommendation, and the Ministry wants more visibility in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Wakabot gives those distant audiences something a static page cannot: answers to the second and third questions, not just the first.

What to Watch After the Pilot

Photo Credit: Gemini AI

Tunis confirmed that the rollout has two phases. The planner is the first. The second concentrates on content development and data analysis, which will show the Ministry what visitors search for and how they behave once they start planning.

“Our ambition is simple. It’s to build a tourism industry that makes informed decisions, responds to the needs of visitors,” she said.

Operators should read that carefully. A tool that builds its knowledge from published content can only recommend what the site describes. Private-sector businesses are expected to gain visibility as the project matures, and those missing from the content base will miss from the itinerary.

The Minister also drew a line around the technology. “Even as we responsibly embrace artificial intelligence, our people, our culture and the warmth of our world are really at the heart of the experience,” she said. She added that the “country context is really critical if we want to advance a tool that is implementable and that is accessible for everyone.”

Travellers share that caution. Global Rescue found that only 4% prefer AI recommendations alone, while half want a blend of AI and human advice. Timing adds pressure. Counted from the 16 July signing, the pilot’s three months close around mid-October. Meanwhile, UN Tourism has cut its 2026 growth forecast for global arrivals to 1% to 2%, down from 3% to 4%, citing Middle East conflict and rising costs. In a slower market, every traveller costs more to win.

The question for Accra, Dakar, Kigali and Nairobi is not whether a chatbot can plan a trip. It is whether your official website can answer a traveller’s third question as well as Sierra Leone’s now answers the first.

What Wakabot Means for Africa’s Tourism Sector

Lower discovery costs for lesser-known destinations. Smaller markets cannot outspend Morocco or South Africa on advertising. A planner that answers questions around the clock lets them compete on clarity instead of budget. Demand data that ministries rarely hold. Sierra Leone’s second phase will record what visitors search for. Most African tourism ministries guess at demand. Search and behaviour data lets them time campaigns, prioritise roads and airlift, and show investors evidence.

A visibility test for operators. AI planners recommend what they can read. Lodges, guides and restaurants without clear, current website content risk disappearing from itineraries. Regional associations should help members publish structured listings now.

Real risks. Patchy connectivity, limited language coverage and outdated listings can erode trust. A planner that sends a traveller to a closed lodge damages the destination faster than a missing brochure. Governments need update routines, not just launches.

A regional template. Passporter’s model, which reads existing official content, is cheap to copy. If other ministries follow, West and Central Africa could offer connected, cross-border itineraries that today’s fragmented information makes hard to sell.

Africa’s tourism story is moving faster than any single headline. Read more Rex Clarke Adventures news stories and feature articles, and see where the continent is winning and where it is falling behind.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Answers 

What is Wakabot?

Wakabot is an AI-powered trip planner built into Sierra Leone’s official tourism website. Visitors chat with it, save places and generate day-by-day itineraries.

Who built Wakabot?

Passporter built it in partnership with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. The ministry calls it the country’s first AI-based travel planner.

Do travellers need to download an app?

No. Wakabot runs inside the existing tourism website. Travellers can download, email, store offline or share their itineraries.

Where does Wakabot get its information?

It reads content already published on the national tourism website and turns it into a knowledge base. It improves as the Ministry adds content and studies traveller behaviour.

How does this affect other African destinations?

It raises the standard for destination websites. Tourism boards that cannot answer traveller questions quickly and accurately risk losing visitors to those that can.