Event Africa

11/09/2024

IN PICTURES: The 7th edition of the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum (ATLF) and Awards convened key stakeholders from the tourism sector across Africa and beyond at the Gaborone International Convention Centre in Botswana last week.
Under the theme "Charting a New Path Forward for Intra-Africa Travel, Tourism, and Investment," this year’s forum highlighted the significance of promoting travel within Africa. It focused on reducing travel restrictions across the continent to foster business growth and facilitate the seamless movement of people.

06/09/2024

Kganya Gao Kwalate, a representative from Botswana’s Ministry for Youth, Gender, Sports and Culture, as well as its Film Office, is on a mission to showcase Botswana to the world through film, and attract both filmmakers and film tourists.

She emphasises that the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum (ATLF) held in Gaborone this week has successfully united key stakeholders, allowing everyone to recognise that they are all working towards a common goal.

Ms Kwalate praised a meeting at ATLF2024 involving the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO), and Business Botswana, during which a plan was developed to establish structures that would enhance both the film and tourism industries, enabling them to better package their offerings and make them more marketable on a global scale.

“I'm glad the Botswana Tourism Organisation is on board because when you talk about film tourism, it is the same product that the tourism organisations are promoting. We are also promoting the country in terms of locations.

“The Ministry of Environment and Tourism fortunately has some guidelines in terms of filming or research in natural and protected areas, which speaks to the rates they would charge for filming in those locations. Then the Department of Environmental Protection has developed some guidelines as well which speaks to the filming rates.

"We will be holding meetings to consolidate our efforts into a one-stop shop. Instead of having one ministry handling permits on one side and another ministry on the other, we aim to create a single document that addresses the needs of all government entities."

Ms Kwalate says Botswana’s 1970 Cinematograph Act is under review and set to be re-enacted by November. “The purpose of this is to establish a Film Commission of Botswana. This will then set the tone of how the country will develop and commercialise our film industry.

“We have rich narratives in terms of our culture and heritage, and we can't wait to take it out to the world and position Botswana through film. We will also collaborate with BTO and promote in markets that they attend around the world, so that when we speak tourism, we speak film and we attract filmmakers in that same sitting.”

06/09/2024

Event Africa caught up with , CEO of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa, after his panel discussion at the Africa Tourism Leadership Conference in Botswana. Mr Munetsi shared some hard-hitting insights and solutions to the lack of intra-Africa travel and connectivity and also the “dysfunctional way” airport charges, fees, levies and taxes actually act as a disincentive for people to travel.

“So having identified that definitely there's not enough intra-Africa connectivity (and that) African airlines do not offer enough flights between destinations on the African
continent, we are now saying to the airlines, ‘We want you to understand that when you build the network in terms of city pairs, you will be offering facilities for us to travel, not only for leisure but also for trade.

“But for us it was even more important to address the issue of the cost. For example, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was commissioned by the African Union to do a study of connectivity and costs on the African continent. You won't believe it! The cost of JET A-1 in Africa is 39% higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we have crude oil producers on the continent. We don't even have a functional refinery that we can use to refine JET A-1. So we are competing on the world stage with other economies that are bigger than us, they can bid better than we do, and they end up with much cheaper fuel than we do. Now we are not even talking about sustainable aviation fuel. On the African continent, we have enough feedstock to be able to produce sustainable aviation fuel, however the number of flights that we operate does not sustain the cost of establishing a sustainable aviation fuel refinery. If we can't refine JET A-1, there's no way we can even talk about sustainable aviation fuel.

“We also discussed the taxes and fees that are levied by airports, by civil aviation authorities. When you look, for example, at a flight from let's say Lagos to Accra, it's a 45-minute flight. You end up paying something like 620 dollars for a 45-minute flight. (Regarding) the airline’s retention of that 620 dollars, they are lucky if they get 150 dollars, the rest goes towards taxes, fees, levies, air traffic navigation services costs, and so forth. And we are saying when we do that, we need to make cost containment a priority to the authorities themselves. They must not go buy fancy cars and all those other things, whistles and bells, when they are not even providing you the customer with the service that you require. So, for example you get on a flight and you’ve paid a safety fee of let’s say 35 to 40 dollars, you get to your destination, your bag has been pilfered, so you are actually done in because you’ve paid for your bag to be secure and yet when you get to your destination, your bag has been pilfered, which means that the security system that you’ve paid for is not in place. So the fees, taxes and charges are a major impediment for the growth, but we are saying yes we understand, yes it’s a business that you are managing, but there are means and ways that you can do this business together with us, so let us all sit in the same room and discuss how we are go forward.”

Mr Munetsi's easy solution to the issue of high jet fuel prices is fuel pooling or combined purchasing. He explains: “I think it's very easy for us to do what I would call a JET A-1 fuel pooling. So if, for example, you look at OR Tambo International or Jomo Kenyatta or Addis Ababa Bole, and the airlines that operate into that airport come together and say, we're going to do combined purchasing. Not that every airline buys on their own. If they do combined purchasing, economies of scale kick in, and you're able to bring down the costs. “Number two, the security of supply becomes even better, because now you are talking to the refinery to say, ‘We are ordering so many tons of jet A1 per month, and this is the price, and this is how you must deliver it to us.””

05/09/2024

Frank Murangwa, ICCA’s Regional Director for Africa, says he is excited to be representing ICCA at the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum in Botswana and shares what he’s hoping to achieve at the conference this year.

“ICCA is the International Congress and Convention Association. We're the global community and knowledge hub for the meetings industry, and so it's very important for us to be present here in Botswana and collaborate with the ATP at the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum, in the sense that this conference is really bringing together all the key players in the tourism industry. And at ICCA we look at collaboration, and collaboration really starts with having the right partners in the room. So we're very happy to be here and we want to really enhance the collaboration we have with the Africa Tourism Partners in terms of growing the Africa we want, in terms of tourism development but also the meetings industry. These are really parallel sectors or industries that are growing on our continent and our presence here is really to enhance that and to contribute to the growth of both sectors.

“Another reason to participate here is to engage more and find more members to be part of ICCA, and from what I'm seeing there is indeed the potential. Africa has huge potential in terms of growth but it really takes time to connect and get to meet people, get to meet the right institutions and be able to create opportunities, so I look forward to continuing the engagement with the different institutions and the companies that are present here.”

Murangwa adds that his biggest takeaway from the conference will be the open discussions on connectivity. “We in the tourism and business events industry, we are in the business of moving people from one place to another. When we're doing our conferences we're moving really big numbers of people, and that requires connectivity in terms of visas, in terms of airlift, and so we've had amazing discussions on what needs to be done at the African level in order for us really to create ease of connecting our people on the continent. I really look forward to seeing what that means for Africa in terms of engagement but also in terms of creating processes that are going to ease travel within our continent. And that's a big expectation because the more we open our borders, the more we open our visa policies and the more we have more airlines connecting us on the continent, the more business we're going to do, so yeah I'm very excited about that.

“I’m also looking forward to the collaboration that we're talking about here. Everyone that has come here, came with expectations in terms of improvement, in terms of knowledge. When you look at some of the sessions, they are really enriching in terms of knowledge. And specifically speaking about the meetings industry, we really are a knowledge economy because whenever we meet, whether it's a science or an economic conference, we want to ensure that our knowledge is improved and we can do better in everything we do.”

04/09/2024

Beatrice Chaytor, Head of Division - Trade in Services, African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, shares the outcomes they are expecting at . “We want (delegates) to take away the fact that the market is now open. There is a fledgling services market that can support intra-African tourism and travel on the continent. There is now also, that started from last year, the establishment of a private sector alliance on tourism that came directly from the efforts of the organisers of this event. And with that, I think the partnership that I just talked about between government and the private sector can be a little bit more structured through that alliance, to enable the information about the services market, the tourism market, to go out to the wider membership, as well as for others. Investors into the economy, into this particular industry, can also learn about the opportunities and enter the market.

“(To find out more) they can go onto the AfCFTA website (https://au-afcfta.org/), they can go onto the website of the organisers, ATLF’s website (https://www.tourismleadershipforum.africa/). They can also approach their Chambers of Commerce in their own countries and they can also find out from many other supportive organisations like UNWTO, UNECA, and the African Union, about the opportunities in the African market, particularly for the AfCFTA.”


“(To find out more) they can go onto the AfCFTA website (https://au-afcfta.org/), they can go onto the website of the organisers, ATLF’s website (https://www.tourismleadershipforum.africa/). They can also approach their Chambers of Commerce in their own countries and they can also find out from many other supportive organisations like UNWTO, UNECA, and the African Union, about the opportunities in the African market, particularly for the AfCFTA.”

04/09/2024

We’re at where Ross Volk, MD of MSC Cruises South Africa, spoke to us about his objectives for attending. “Being here is obviously a networking opportunity, but more importantly, it's also to see what innovations and the future kind of environments we see from a tourism industry perspective, globally and across Africa. That's primarily one of the key considerations and obviously also to source markets for future cruises. We need to increase the pool of people that we attract and we expose new and different markets to cruising.”

Volk also spoke about the potential impact of film tourism for MSC: “Film is a great medium in terms of representing things, in displaying products and also services. And I think it has a wonderful aspect of also bringing tourism to countries because it displays the country in a positive light. I think that was one of the things we took when we had (feature film) on board. We had this film crew doing a movie on board. We've got the BirdLife cruise coming up next year. We've also got two film crews coming from Germany and from overseas to try and showcase the conservation elements and sustainability of what we're trying to do from a messaging perspective of saving seabirds on Marion Island. So I think there's a lot of scope for allowing people on board or bringing them on board to showcase the event. We also did Building Paradise Island with National Geographic, which is our island in the Bahamas. So, you know, I think there's a precedent there. And I think we encourage people to look at and entertain the idea and then let's see if it benefits both parties and let's move forward in terms of that space.”

04/09/2024

Vice President of Botswana HE Slumber Tsogwane opened the 7th Africa Tourism Leadership Forum at the GICC in Gaborone today. ATLF brings together key stakeholders of Africa’s travel, tourism, hospitality, and aviation sectors to network, share insights, and devise strategies for Intra-Africa travel and tourism growth across the continent, whilst enhancing the brand equity of .

Follow us for updates from this important event.

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With a fully sold-out floor space, this year’s show boasts an impressive array of exhibitors from 26 countries representing the continent's diverse leisure tourism products.

Get the latest news and insights in Africa's Travel Indaba Daily Newspaper.

DISCOVER CONNECT DAILY NEWS GROW 1 DAILY NEWS ISSUE 1 | NEWS MAY 14 2024 DAILY CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF FREEDOM AT AFRICA’S TRAVEL INDABA 2024 W elcome to the

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Read it here https://bit.ly/3WbCzaU

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In this issue, immerse yourself in the forefront of the MICE industry with cutting-edge news, insightful association updates, and thought-provoking sustainability pieces. Explore the technological advancements that are shaping the landscape of the MICE industry, providing valuable insights for event planners navigating the ever-evolving world of events in Africa. Stay informed and inspired as you delve into the pages of this indispensable guide, your go-to resource for navigating the intricate realm of event planning on the African continent.
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