Right from its first edition, Tourism Investments Forum Africa (TIFA), has lived up to the expectations of continent-wide stakeholders.
In this exclusive interview, Miller Matola, CEO of Millvest Investments and organiser of TIFA, shares with VoyagesAfriq, the offerings, impact so far, wins and inroads, efforts at helping destinations to attract investments and more.
How did the 2nd edition of TIFA went, especially on the side-lines of WTM Africa?
It was overall well with good spread of projects and speaker lineup. We had new destinations; Mauritania, Zanzibar and St. Helena, with the relevant and on point content.We also had challenges regarding delegate management and retention given colocations. There were also challenges due to Eid falling on 10th, the first day of event, which resulted in number of delegations pulling out, Zanzibar, Mauritania, Millat, and other participants from Middle East.
Why did you offer lesser-known destinations opportunity to showcase their bankable projects?
We were looking at demand creation to also enable us promote intra Africa investment. On the supply side of product development, it is meant to ensure that those destinations with tourism potentials are able to attract the necessary investment into the supply side of their tourism value chains, to be able to promote and position themselves successfully as tourism destinations.
We did that to also profile them as destinations for MICE. In the case of Cape Town lesser so, it was the marketplace to which destinations could showcase their tourism investment potentials, while at the same time profiling and promoting themselves as tourism destinations.
So far, what are the wins and inroads TIFA is making in driving investments to destinations, particularly with a tourism focus?
First, TIFA multi sectoral focus saw more than 50 projects being presented by more than 13 countries and regions. Secondly, TIFA’s strong focus on tourism projects saw more than 60 projects being presented and the quality of submissions and projects being submitted for funding is getting better.
There were some strong leads generated for some of the destinations which participated; and those that presented their investment projects are making inroads in terms of being seen as market place for tourism investment opportunities; platforms for sharing and exchange of insights on global and continental tourism investment trends and developments; platform for profiling and promoting destinations’ investment climate, potentials and opportunities and platform for capital raising.
What is TIFA’s short to medium-term plan to help destinations harness their full potential?
Investment promotion and mobilisation is not one shot process; it takes concerted time and effort, and necessary support such as incentives from public sector and policy makers.For the short term, we need awareness, profiling and positioning, while the medium term requires assistance in project promotion and investment mobilisation.
However, the long term needs platform for capital raising.
This article was first published in the June 2024 Edition of VoyagesAfriq Travel Magazine
