The Chronicle

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Google have teamed up to steer the restart of the African tourism sector by providing expertise in data management and digital marketing.

According to the UNWTO, the expertise was offered through a capacity-building program that last week benefited 20 African national tourism organizations from topics designed to help them attract visitors and better manage their tourism sectors.

“UNWTO continues its commitment to the African tourism sector by working with Google to help travel destinations gain expertise in data management and digital marketing,” the UNWTO said in a statement.

The training program also focuses on insights into data collection, analysis and management, as well as digital marketing, with a special focus on how digital content and storytelling are powerful tools for restarting tourism and supporting post-pandemic recovery can.

“To put theory into practice, attendees were able to learn more about the UNWTO’s tools to provide market insights and aid recovery, including the UNWTO Recovery Tracker and its trusted dashboards.

“In addition, the national tourism organizations were shown how Google’s Insights Tools can contribute to a sustainable recovery,” the report said.

In January of this year, international tourist arrivals fell 87 percent compared to 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fatal disease was first discovered in China in December 2019 and has spread around the world, negatively affecting health and the economy.

UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili was quoted as saying: “The UNWTO agenda for Africa aims to harness the power of tourism to promote sustainable development across Africa. By partnering with Google, we ensure that our member states can leverage data intelligence and digital marketing to recover from the current crisis, restart their tourism sector, and grow smarter and better. “

The capacity building program is part of the broader partnership between the UNWTO and Google. The two organizations worked closely on issues of mutual interest to achieve common goals, including data, market research on consumer trends and forecasts, innovation, education and digital transformation, and capacity building.

The UNWTO continues to call for greater coordination of travel protocols between countries to ensure a safe restart of tourism and avoid another year of massive losses for the sector. – @okazunga

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