Blog

The 2021 edition which is second in series, of AFRICA TOURISM DAY just ended on the 26th of November 2021and it ended on a crescendo!

The annual event which was hosted by Abigail Olagbaye who is also the founder of the initiative, Africa Tourism Day, stayed true to its objectives one of which is to showcase and celebrate the natural, cultural and tourism attributes and heritages of Africa to a global audience for multiplier opportunities.

Africa Tourism Day 2021 once again rekindled the awareness of and commitment to sustainability and the call for the integration of sustainable tourism into the African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA.

The theme of the event was the Intersection of Tourism, Trade and Sustainability, Imperatives for Africa during and post Covid 19 Era. This was the first time in Africa that a continental event will invite a global discussion on tourism, trade, sustainability, environment and climate change in one event!

The remarkable event took off with opening remarks from the president of African Tourism Board and former minister of Tourism Seychelles, Mr. Alain St. Ange with an agenda -setting goodwill note from the Executive Chairman of African Tourism Board Cuthbert Ncube.

Africa Tourism Day 2021 convened global leaders of note, ministers of tourism, international organisations, public sector, private sector industry associations, stakeholders etc It was however preceded a day before by a drill-down Youth Tourism Connect Training Programme on the 25th of November. The youth programme was facilitated by Nigerian Institute of Hospitality and Tourism NIHOTOUR taken by Joesef Karim and Sustainable Travel International, a spanish private sector sustainable tourism organisation with representation in 123 countries. The training was taken by the Program Manager Climate and Resilience, Ivory Vogt.

The programme was designed to train youths in tourism business and students the essentials of tourism industry, sustainable tourism business and most especially applying sustainability principles in tourism operations for the Climate. The remarkably successful programme attracted participation from 7 countries in Africa including Senegal, Ghana, Botswana, Eswatini, Nigeria, South Africa etc.

Africa Tourism Day held on Friday, the 26th of November exactly one year after the well applauded maiden edition debutted in Nigeria.

The 2021 edition was attended by 3 sitting ministers of Tourism from Botswana, Eswatini and Jamaica respectively who took on the Minister’s Forum sharing their knowledge, policy actions and expertise on the theme- ACCELERATING SUSTAINABLE TOURISM POLICY FOR CLIMATE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION FOR AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS. The Jamaican minister of Tourism Hon. Edmund Bartlett delivered a world class keynote with living examples and insights into what his ministry was doing in Jamaica to grow the industry sustainably with climate change mitigation and adaptation in focus.

This was followed by African Private Sector Forum with theme TACKLING THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY AND TOURISM FOOTPRINT THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABLE TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE TOURISM INTO AFCFTA FRAMEWORK . The keynote was from Sustainable Travel International Lead, Paloma Zapata and the panel discussion was undertaken by ICOMOS President, Fergus Mcclaren, Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria ATPN president Hassan Zakari, Ghana Tourism Federation GHATOF executive secretary Emmanuel Frimpong, Zara Tours founder and president Zainab Ansell ( represented) and Chairperson of Smiling Simeon Foundation Chief Mrs.Okuribido.

The outcomes of this memorable edition include developing thematic pathways and discussions and action plan from the event’s focus areas,

The conference also resolved to engage the trade sector especially AfCFTA leadership and community in the area of sustainable trade policy and integration of sustainable tourism into the framework of the AFCFTA.

Desigo Tourism Development and Facility Management Company Limited, the organisers of the annual event wishes to expresses its gratitude to :

African Tourism Board

African Travel Commission

African Organisation for Standardisation ARSO

Oyotunji African Village South Carolina

Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Kingdom of Eswatini

Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism Botswana

Ministry of Tourism Jamaica

Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Seirra Leone

Nigerian Institute of Hospitality and Tourism NIHOTOUR

Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation NTDC

Nigerian National Parks Service

Lagos State Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism.

Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria ATPN

Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigerian ITPN

Legendary Gold Limited

New Telegraph media.

Sustainable Travel International

Tour Nigeria

Voices for Climate Change of the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica

AfriCanada Business Exchange

New York African Chorus Ensemble.