A number of tourism experts will be speaking at the virtual TIA360 eThekwini Tourism Investment Symposium – which aims to boost and attract investment to KwaZulu Natal’s tourism industry – on Thursday, August 5.
According to organisers, the primary objective of the conference is to help local tourism projects receive much-needed funding and support by matching them with potential investors and supportive stakeholders.
There are six sessions throughout the day: AgriTourism; Community Tourism; Eventing4Tourism; Tech4Tourism; Finance4Tourism and Education4Tourism, running from 09:00 to 18:00, with global and local experts taking part.
Richard Perez, Founding Director of the Hasso Plattner D-School at the UCT Business School, will kick off the conference with the first keynote address, ‘Re-imagining Tourism Through Human-Centred Design - Passion for Africa’. Perez is a design thinking specialist whose motivation is to get project teams to innovate.
Other notable guest speakers include:
Chris Flynn, currently President and CEO of the World Tourism Association for Culture & Heritage Australia.
The UK-based Ged Brown, Founder and CEO of Low Season Traveller, the world's first organisation completely dedicated to the promotion of travel during the off- seasons.
Dr Thabo Lehlokoe, Co-founder and Chairman of Seemahale Investment Corporation, Seenergy and Seemahale Telecoms Proprietary Limited, and Executive Chairman of Tafari Capital.
Kenyan Judy Kepher, who, in 2018, was recognised by Women Academics in Tourism (WAIT) as among the Top 50 Awesome Scholars in Tourism.
Natalia Bayona, leader of the Innovation at the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Closing keynote speakers will be Google South Africa’s Head of Retail, Tech, Travel and Gaming, Linah Maigurira, and Russell Curtis, Head of Invest Durban.
The virtual conference will be held in partnership with eThekwini Municipality’s Invest Durban unit as the lead, supported by Durban Tourism, the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, plus investment industry leaders such as SAVCA (the SA Venture Capital Association).
The meeting will be held on the meeting platform, Zoom. Participation is free and anyone interested in attending can register HERE.
