Abstract
Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) is one of the most neglected topics in international tourism
scholarship. In terms of sub-Saharan Africa despite acknowledgement of major flows of VFR travellers
it is shown that there has been undertaken only a handful of research which is explicitly directed at VFR
travel mobilities. The objective in this article is to argue that VFR travel ‘matters’ for African tourism
scholars and its neglect should be rectified by a wave of new research studies focused around VFR
travel in the continent. Two sections of material are presented. The first section provides an overview
of key international scholarship and debates about VFR travel. The second section shows the limited
existing African scholarship concerning VFR travel. Overall, it is concluded that the academic neglect
of VFR travellers in sub-Saharan Africa should be addressed by an expanded research agenda, the
findings of which can have potential relevance for African policy makers.