These are the most popular African travel destinations for US Presidents

desmond frimpong

September 4, 2017 11:35 AM

Find out where all the cool African countries where US presidents are visiting.

Heads of State embarks on foreign trips to sell their countries abroad all the time. Regardless of how small or big a country may be, presidential travels could bring in some benefits.

Have previous US presidents prioritized Africa when formulating their global strategies? One metric to look at is the time spent on the ground across the African continent.

If nothing at all, President Obama made a bit of history on his fourth trip to Sub-Saharan Africa while in office.

Other presidents have over the years found Africa a good travel destination for both pleasure and business.

The chart below examines the number of countries visited, along with the number of travel days spent by the previous US presidents (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama) on the ground across the African continent.

Between the motorcades, aeroplanes, helicopters and security entourage, travel for a US president is an insanely complex and highly-orchestrated endeavour.

Reports say the helicopters (which can cost around $2,000 per flight hour), Air Force One (which costs close to $206,337 per flight hour), the motorcade, and the C5 Galaxy planes used to transport the motorcade cost the American taxpayer $350 million per year, or one quarter of the yearly White House budget.

Data is from the US Department of State, Office of the Historian

desmond frimpong