Botswana is gearing up to host the inaugural AfCFTA Forum on Tourism, Creatives, and Cultural Industries, with the launch to take place during the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum (ATLF) and Awards at the Gaborone International Convention Centre on October 4-6.
The emergence of creative tourism reflects the growing integration between tourism and different place-making strategies, including promoting the creative industries.
It is against this background that the AfCFTA Secretariat has partnered with Africa Tourism Partners to host the inaugural forum, which seeks to involve key Pan-African and intra-Africa travel and tourism stakeholders and related sectors to harness the value of the continent’s creative and cultural assets to stimulate demand for intra-Africa travel.
The forum will highlight and harness emerging trade opportunities in intra-Africa travel and tourism investment sectors, and launch the newly established Africa Tourism Private Sector Alliance, an apex body for the African travel and tourism private sector. The objective is to use this body to leverage the opportunities under the AfCFTA.
Themed, ‘Shifting demand dynamics to shape the future of intra-Africa Travel’, this year’s ATLF and Awards will present distinct networking avenues, business opportunities and learning programmes relating to intra-Africa travel, franchising, creative industries and culture, tourism investment, MICE, digitalisation and more.
The forum will be led by renowned global experts, ministers, CEOs, business executives, policy-makers, entrepreneurs, academics, researchers, practitioners and DMCs.
All hotels, lodges, guest houses, B&Bs, DMCs, restaurants, tour operators, travel agents, marketing agencies, NTOs, DMOs, women and youth associations, entrepreneurs and all key industry stakeholders are set to benefit from high-level B2B sessions, a Tourism Entrepreneurship Masterclass, and Intra-Africa Travel & Tourism Road Show & Exhibition starting on October 3.
The ATLF and Awards will also feature destination showcases and presentations from all participating Africa member states as a way of promoting destinations to a wide spectrum of global participants.
There will be over 500 physical delegates, including media and hosted buyers from across the globe in attendance.
Space is available to register for physical attendance, one-on-one B2B sessions, desk-top exhibitions and destination showcases.
Interested participants can click here to register.