The Africa Free Continental Trade Area (AfCFTA) has strengthened its partnership with the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum (ATLF) and Awards 2024 by making the AfCFTA Forum on Tourism, Creatives and Cultural Industries a permanent feature on ATLF’s programme.
Scheduled for September 3–6, 2024, in Gaborone, Botswana, ATLF will run concurrently with the AfCFTA Forum on Tourism, Creatives and Cultural Industries. The main thrust of the AfCFTA Forum is to share insights and guide private-sector tourism stakeholders, small enterprises, entrepreneurs, and African Union Member States on leveraging the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Services for intra-African travel and tourism investment and business opportunities.
Africa Tourism Leadership Forum 2024
Central to this year’s programme are Entrepreneurial Training and Coaching, Speed Marketing, and the AfCFTA Forum on Tourism, Creatives, and Cultural Industries. Among the thematic areas featured in this year’s programme are:
• Understanding how to secure tourism investments from an investor’s point of view
• The value of creative and cultural industries’ business opportunities
• Short-term rental tourist accommodation insights, trends and opportunities
• Approaches to establishing and offering quality travel, tourism and hospitality education
Once again, attendees and participants will benefit from Speed Marketing, Business-to-Business Meetings, and an Entrepreneurial Masterclass in Sales, MICE, and Entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, the Africa Tourism Leadership Awards (ATLA 2024) nominations are ongoing. Over 100 nominations for the nine categories have been received across the African continent.
The nominations close on July 26th, 2024. The Africa Tourism Leadership Forum and Awards categories are as follows:
• Leading in Progressive Policies’ Award
• Outstanding Entrepreneurship Award
• Outstanding Africa Tourism Media & Marketing Award
• Championing Sustainability Award
• Most Innovative Business Tourism Destination Award
• Outstanding Accommodation Facility/Group Award
• Outstanding Tourism Transportation Award
• Destination Africa: Lifetime Award
The winner, first, and second runners-up will be announced on September 6, 2024, at an Awards Gala Dinner in Gaborone, Botswana.
The organisers disclosed that space for physical attendance, desk-top exhibitions and destination showcases is available and invited interested participants and exhibitors to register on their website.
About UN Tourism
United Nations Tourism is the United Nations agency responsible for promoting responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. As the leading international organization in tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability, offering leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.
About AfCFTA
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a free trade area encompassing most of Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which has 43 parties and an additional 11 signatories, was established in 2018. With 1.3 billion people living across the second-largest continent in the world, it is the largest free-trade area by a large number of member states, after the World Trade Organization.