Tourism leaders and stakeholders from Africa and beyond have gathered in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital for this year’s Africa Tourism Leadership Forum (ATLF20220).
For the next three days will look at ways and means of driving Africa’s tourism agenda through an avalanche of experts’ discussions, networking and business engagement sessions.
The opening day’s events focused on private sector discussions and masterclass particularly on digitalisation and the Meetings Incentives and Conferencing sector otherwise known as MICE. Acting Board Chairperson for Botswana Tourism Organisation, Ms. Wincey Ramaphoi in her welcome address expressed her delight for the hybrid format of the event which presents flexibility for participation both physically and virtually.
“The fact that this forum is being held in both online and offline formats without compromising the experience makes it truly Pan African, global, and fully inclusive. Imagine this: navigating a virtual venue map, jumping from a conference session to an art performance, to an interactive networking session, etc; all from the comfort of the user’s web browser, all these happening with a seamless effort,” she said.
Ms. Ramaphoi added that ATLF2022 couldn’t have taken place at a more opportune time. She maintained, “We have over the next 3-days, the opportunity – and indeed the responsibility, to rethink, re-ignite, and transform tourism in Africa. This conference happens at a time of a heightened call for the African Continent to build its productive capacities, deepen regional integration and pursuing economic diversification.”
CEO of Africa Tourism Partners, Kwakye Donkor maintained that the event offers a unique opportunity for budding and young entreprenuers to engage, connect and learn from the industry’s best and brightest minds. He expressed hope that by the end of the three days, a lot more would have been done to empower tourism SMEs and advance the course of frontline workers who described as “the real people who drive tourism.”
In addition to the MICE and Digitalisation sessions, there was also a private sector and National Tourism Organisations Roundtable.
Tomorrow is jam-packed with more interactive and business engagement sessions featuring tourism leaders, CEOS and Ministers, among others with the President of Botswana, Dr. Mokgweesti Masisi expected to formally open ATLF2022.
