The second UN Tourism Brand Conference, which is scheduled to occur in Zambia from 22nd to 24th July this year, looks to be a game-changing occasion with the goal of elevating Africa’s reputation as a top travel destination. In order to strengthen the tourism industry on the continent, this conference will expand on efforts that were started in 2015 and will centre on capacity building, social media power, and collaboration.
Understanding the critical link between a destination’s image and its competitiveness, the UN Tourism initiative has sought to elevate Africa’s standing in the global tourism industry. Sandra Carvao, Director of the Market Intelligence , Policies and Competitiveness Department at UN Tourism highlighted this in an interview with VoyagesAfriq.
“The image of a country or of a destination impacts significantly the competitiveness of that destination in general and also in terms of tourism naturally. So from the start and back in 2015, UN Tourism wanted to work with African partners, the Ministries of Tourism, National Tourism Administrations and organisations to see how we can work to enhance the image of Africa as a whole, which at the end of the day, benefits each of the countries.”
The conference’s main focus is on the collaboration needed to accomplish the intended results. The event’s goal this year is to improve collaborations amongst a range of stakeholders, including as media outlets, commercial companies, and national tourism organisations. Sandra emphasised, “What we do hope to come out with when we finish the event in Zambia is really a collective commitment to not only in each of our work to work towards that same objective, that we can have the same vision and the same objectives, but at the same time that we can come out with some common actions that we can build together and deliver.”
Highlighting the rise of social media, Sandra mentioned that destinations now have unprecedented opportunities to shape their narratives and reach potential travellers directly. Sandra noted the significant shift, saying, “This has brought the power also to the destinations to speak loudly in social media, to address consumers directly, which some years ago was not possible or was extremely expensive when you think about advertising in the traditional way. And now there’s a huge opportunity to actually shift the narrative, create new stories, own the narrative as we always say.”
Taking stock of previous endeavours, like the COVID-19 recovery phase event in Namibia, yields insightful observations. Previous initiatives have demonstrated the necessity of a consistent and well-planned strategy to increase Africa’s tourism appeal. Sandra remarked, “We went to Namibia and there was a commitment from the National Tourism Administrations and the National Tourism Organizations to work together on this agenda. Also, it is part of the UN Tourism Agenda for Africa, the issue of brand and positioning of the region.”
According to Sandra a major objective of the conference is to improve the storytelling and social media skills of national tourism staff. Their ability to convey the distinctive features of their locations will be enhanced as a result .
Sandra pointed out the importance of skill enhancement, saying,”Can we help the National Tourism Administrations enhance, for example, the skills of storytelling and social media for their staff?”
Finally, Sandra highlighted fostering a sense of community among participants as crucial for the success of the conference. The purpose of the event is to foster a collaborative and learning atmosphere among varied participants through co-creation. Sandra emphasised,”What we really want is that there is a spirit of community among these players, that we can foster the partnerships between them, that we can build new projects that actually enhance this objective of creating a stronger positioning for Africa. So hopefully, we hope to learn from each other, because it’s an amazing opportunity having so many CEOs together. Community learning is very important because what one has done and didn’t work will help others as well.”
