CAPE TOWN – African governments must work together to define a standardized travel protocol if tourism is to recover quickly and deliver the economic benefits that are so important to the continent.

This was the overarching message of the recent African Tourism Investment Summit (ATIS), which was and was not hosted by the International Tourism & Investment Conference (ITIC) and the World Travel Market Africa (WTM Africa) at Africa Travel Week (ATW) less than 9 incredible ministers attended panel discussions and presentations from investment experts.

The ITIC Chairman and former Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Dr. Taleb Rifai, advocating collaboration, said it would take five years for 70% of the world’s population to be vaccinated and it would be impractical to pin down tourism’s hopes on before the trip could seriously resume.

“We cannot face this as individual governments. We have to work together and not just the tourism ministers but also the health and transport ministers. African governments need to work together to establish a minimum travel procedure and protocol.

“We can’t have a country that insists on quarantine, its neighbor insists on vaccinations and a third that needs to be tested. There needs to be a standardized minimum of procedures that are agreed upon for travel to be possible. There is no other way.”

Taleb’s view was broadly supported by the various ministers and the President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Gloria Guevara, who called for an international mobility program to ensure the safety required for travel.

“We cannot quarantine entire countries as infected. It is therefore necessary to move from the country assessment to the individual assessment. If we can reach an agreement between the countries of Africa, we could resume international travel and bring back travelers and jobs, ”said Guevara, whose recommendation for Africa would be to define clear rules and jointly draw up a mobility protocol.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, vice chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, advocated widespread access to vaccines and called for “teamwork” to “get tourism up and running quickly” while warning of variants.

“Among other things, we are trying to open up tourism without bringing variants to countries where they are not available and, conversely, to bring back variants that are not covered by existing vaccines.

“Variants need to be identified and South Africa is a prime example. They identified a variant, brought it into the world and we now know that vaccinations cover that variant. This is how it’s done.”

On the subject of investor confidence, Najib Balala, cabinet secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, said this could only be achieved through cooperation. Balala lamented the current narrative about Africa and variants, saying that listing countries and hoarding vaccines is not “healthy”.

“If there is a problem in Kenya or South Africa, we should pull ourselves together and find solutions. This is not a problem for one country, this is a global problem as variants will spread around the world. Before we can talk about investing, we need to address these issues first, as investments withdraw when there is uncertainty. “

Balala stressed that Africa should focus its current efforts on building an infrastructure that supports and enables tourism, so that “we invest today for tomorrow”, so that “when the world opens up again, we can say that we are ready for it “.

Sofia Zacharaki, Greece’s Deputy Minister of Tourism, reiterated her support for Africa and her willingness to engage in dialogue, saying the country has been invested in promoting “mutual tourism investments based on sustainability and environmental protection” as well as “special initiatives in support of joint activities” between Greek and African companies, a framework for the exchange of knowledge and the development of specialized and alternative forms of tourism. “

ATIS is an “Invest, Rebuild and Rebuild” motto and its common purpose is to help African countries and delegates around the world drive the growth of travel and tourism through innovation in products, destination marketing and investments in sustainable development and infrastructure .

Included in the list was a presentation about travel destinations and tourism projects in Africa that are looking for investment. Paul Hoskins, Director of ITIC Ltd and Invest Tourism Ltd., presented $ 2.5 billion worth of projects based on experiences with nature immersion and a Smart City in Mauritius at Billionaire’s Bay opportunity on the outskirts of Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire.

The virtual event also brought together speakers from the European Union, the Commonwealth, Malaga, Greece, Jamaica and China, all of whom expressed their willingness to work with Africa on tourism recovery.

Ibrahim Ayoub, Group CEO of ITIC and organizer of the Africa Tourism Investment Summit with WTM Africa, said: “ITIC is proud to help rebuild and restart the travel and tourism industry in Africa. We are all excited that we have laid the foundation for the next two summits (June 24th and September 1-3, 2021) and will continue the dialogue on the challenging current issues that will enable project owners and investors to express their vision for to achieve sustainable and inclusive future development for the benefit of all Africans.

“The COVID-19 vaccination campaigns will hopefully serve as a catalyst for an early recovery on the African continent by the third quarter of 2021.

“The face-to-face meeting in Cape Town on September 1-3, 2021, will bring Africa’s tourism ministers together to develop a joint action plan to accelerate this recovery. We look forward to writing another page in the history of the continent together. “

According to Megan Oberholzer, Portfolio Director at Reed Exhibitions – Travel, Tourism & Creative Industries, there is a need to connect. “We are very happy about our cooperation with ITIC and the events that we will be hosting together over the next few months. We hope that some of the suggestions shared over the past two days about working together in Africa and focusing on tourism investing will be further unwrapped in our upcoming events. It was a pleasure to be part of this important dialogue. “

The Africa Tourism Investment Conference will take place on Thursday June 24th. A third event will take place physically from September 1st to 3rd, when ITIC and WTM Africa are hosting “Africa Live” in the city of Cape Town to cater to project owners. Investors and financiers have the opportunity to meet in person in individual deal rooms to to give selected participants the opportunity to present their development projects and funding requirements to potential donors.

The conferences will help promote international awareness and investment 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 with the authority to channel capital and raise funds using key regional exchanges to raise and structure the funds for investing in living and bankable tourism projects .

The aim is to make tourism an engine that will stimulate and develop the other industries with the ecosystem in a sustainable way – SMEs in various sectors to support the tourism industry – such as agriculture, manufacturing, energy, technology, textiles and many other sectors Economy to create jobs, prosperity in the country and for the benefit of the people. – SG

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