Some of the brightest minds in the African Tourism and Creative Industry will, on Thursday July 9 2020, deliberate on how best to revive tourism on the continent and how creatives can serve as catalysts for its resuscitation.
According to a statement issued on Monday by the lead organiser, PRM Africa, the Pan-African event themed ‘Post-CoVID-19: For African Tourism To Revive, Reboot & Refocus’, will hold via Zoom video conferencing between 12noon and 2pm (WAT).
The virtual conference is in celebration of the 50th birthday of former Commissioner of Tourism, Arts & Culture in Lagos State, Steve Ayorinde, “whose contributions to the development of tourism and creative industry in Lagos, Nigeria are noteworthy.”
The virtual conference is aimed at finding immediate recovery and sustenance to the unprecedented crisis in the tourism industry consequent upon the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“The need to close the gap among African countries and all the regions of the continent for better inter-African flow of tourists
as well as the need to close the gap between tourism promoters and creative industry producers so that creative content can serve as catalysts for driving tourism within the Continent post-Covid19 when international inflow of tourists may take a while to pick up,” the statement reads.
Leading the pack of the “Pan-African panel” are President, Ecoplannet Sarl, Morocco who is also the President of Tourism Leadership Forum, James MacGregor; Regional Head-West Africa, South African Tourism, Thekiso Rakolojane; Founder, Villa Sands Hotel Group, Ilha de Mozambique, Gisela Antman; Head of International Jury Department, Cairo International Film Festival, Egypt, Nayera Soliman; and President, West Africa Tourism Organisation (WATO) Ola Wright.
Other panelists include the Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Tourism Authority, Akwasi Agyeman; Regional Marketing Manager, Kenya Tourism Board, Fiona Ngesa; Head Tourism, Brand Malawi Campaign, Janet Kathewera; A&R Manager, Africa for Sony ATV Music Publishing, South Africa, Munya Chanetsa; Founder, Akwaaba African Travel Market, Ikechi Uko; Senior Consultant, W-Hospitality Group, Nigeria, Belinda Nwosu.
The 2-hour conference will be moderated by Media Personality and Creative Industry Executive, Olisa Adibua alongside South African Brand and Communication expert, Matlou Tsotetsi.
Goodwill messages are expected from the Head of Culture, Social Affairs Commission, African Union Commission (AUC), Angela Martins as well as the Nigerian Minister of Information, Culture, Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Born 9 July 1970, Ayorinde is a renowned Nigerian journalist, media consultant, author and publisher who has devoted about three decades to promoting the arts, creative enterprise and tourism across the continent.
