Cape Town, 6 April 2021 – Held under the banner of Invest, Rebuild and Restart, the upcoming African Tourism Investment Summit (ATIS) hosted by International Tourism & Investment Conference (ITIC) and World Travel Market Africa (WTM Africa) at Africa Travel Week (ATW) features no fewer than 9 incredible ministerial and investment expert panel discussions and presentations.
Day 1 will kick off with a ministerial panel moderated by the BBC’s Rajan Datar on Investing in Sustainable Travel and Tourism Projects in Africa and restarting the sector in the post-COVID era.
Participating on the panel are Hon. Moses M. Vilakati, Minister of Tourism of Eswatini; Hon. Memunatu Pratt, Minister of Tourism, Sierra Leone; Hon. Najib Balala, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, Kenya; Hon. Mary Masanja, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania; Hon. Ian Liddell-Grainger, UK MP and Chair Commonwealth Parliamentary UK; Hon. Elena Kountoura, Member of European Parliament and Hon. Sofia Zacharaki, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Greece. Dr Taleb Rifai, Chairman of ITIC and former Secretary-General of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) will deliver the introduction.
Day 2 begins at 10h15 CAT with a ‘morning conversation’ joined by Reed Exhibitions South Africa Managing Director Carol Weaving, followed by an Economic Outlook presentation with Rashid Toefy, Deputy Director-General, Department of Economic Development & Tourism, Western Cape Government – in conversation with H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General, African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat and Chief Director, Africa Economic Relations, The Department of Trade & Industry, South Africa to unpack the economic landscape to optimise tourism investment opportunities in Africa.
Thereafter there will be an enriching dialogue with Hon. Siandou Fofana, Minister of Tourism Cote D’Ivoire; Tom Jones, Senior Partner, Finn Partners and Prof. David Heymann, Epidemiologist and Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology LSHTM on how the vaccination process will contribute to restoring trust and a sense of security to restart travel and tourism.
Several panel discussions follow from 11h45 CAT with a focus on such topics as: The changing landscape of capital raising, investment criteria and risk management to attract the ‘right’ investor for your project and the critical need of effective branding and marketing Africa as a single destination.
A panel discussion on rebuilding Africa’s travel and tourism sector while enhancing its resilience follows, with Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica; Hon. Ronald Chitotela, Minister of Tourism and Arts, Zambia; Hon. Minister David Maynier, Minister of Economic Development & Opportunities, Ministry of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Western Cape Government; Gloria Guevara, President & CEO WTTC and Dr Taleb Rifai, Chairman ITIC & former Secretary-General, UNWTO.
The day concludes with a presentation on Destination and Tourism Projects in Africa that are seeking investment, introduced by Paul Hoskins, Director ITIC Ltd and Invest Tourism Ltd, followed by the conference’s official closing.
The programme has been developed by ITIC Ltd, which entered into a strategic alliance with World Travel Market Africa earlier this year to help propel growth in travel and tourism through innovation in products, destination marketing and investment in sustainable development and infrastructure.
The Africa Tourism Investment Conference will be held virtually from 7 – 9 April and again on Thursday 24 June 2021 with the common purpose in assisting African countries and worldwide delegates and clients alike in their ambition to achieve their organisation’s objectives and future growth potential.
Mr Ibrahim Ayoub, Group CEO of ITIC and Organiser of the Africa Tourism Investment Summit with WTM Africa, pointed out that “we have brought an impressive line-up of Ministers, decision-makers and leaders of the financial services and tourism sectors under one roof to discuss the post-pandemic and foster new business opportunities, the reconfiguration of financing, travel, rebranding of the African continent as a single destination and the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign to bring trust and confidence as well as the new investment opportunities which are emerging in the field of sustainable tourism. It’s a must for you Africans to join us on the 7th & 8th April for this summit to pave the way for the betterment of the continent.”
Click here to register your attendance at the Africa Tourism Investment Summit.
The third in the series of 2021 Africa Tourism Investment Conferences will take place physically when ITIC and WTM Africa will host “Africa Live” in the City of Cape Town on 2 September, which will provide project owners, investors and financiers the opportunity to meet in person in individual Deal Rooms facilitating selected participants to showcase their development projects and funding requirements to prospective funders.
The conferences will help drive international awareness and investments in Africa and surrounding Island destinations and act as a catalyst for growth. It will attract private equity firms, institutional investors, fund managers and influencers, who have the power to channel capital and to raise funds by using key regional Stock Exchanges to raise and structure the funds to invest in live and bankable tourism projects.
The objective is to make tourism a driver to boost and develop the other industries with the Eco-System in a sustainable manner – SME within different sectors to support the tourism industry – such agriculture, manufacturing, energy, technology, textile and many of sectors of the economy to create employment, wealth within the country and for the benefit of the people.
For more information on WTM Africa Virtual, visit: www.wtm.com/africa
For more information about the ITIC WTM Africa Virtual Summit, visit https://itic.uk/programmeiticwtmafrica2021/
