Africa Tourism Partners (ATP), in collaboration with UN Tourism, BDO, AfCFTA, and host partner Teams Africa, will launch the 7th and 2025 Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Challenge (AYTIC). The virtual launch will be held on Tuesday, December 10, 2024.
The 7th edition of the Africa Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 10 to 13 June 2025. South Africa (2019), Rwanda (2020), Ghana (2021), and Namibia hosted the summit through the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism Summit and the Innovation Challenge for three years from 2022 to 2024.
Kwakye Donkor, CEO of Africa Tourism Partners, stated, “We believe that our partnership with TEAMS Africa, along with the support of the Kenya Tourism Board and other private sector partners, will be a game changer for the Summit.”
Convened annually by ATP in collaboration with the UNWTO and BDO, this year’s Summit will be leveraged for intra-Africa trade in tourism services among African youth and showcase youth in tourism businesses across the continent. Central to this will be desktop exhibitions showcasing youth empowerment initiatives and SMEs in tourism, travel technology, fintech, and social entrepreneurship. Coupled with these, there will be intergenerational tourism trading in services business-to-business opportunities for tour operators, tourism accommodation facilities, transport service providers, educational institutions, travel and travel technology start-ups and incubators, employment agencies, professional development, and more.
The Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Challenge (YTIC) is aimed at young people up to age 35, but it also welcomes postgraduate students to participate. This initiative provides an excellent opportunity for young innovators, entrepreneurs, and doctoral students from across the continent to contribute to the future of Africa’s tourism sector. AYTIC is a unique Pan-African tourism innovation challenge that invites youth to present their innovative ideas, technological solutions, and social entrepreneurship projects, all of which have the potential to draw interest from investors and venture capitalists.
Winners will gain access to the Africa Tourism Innovation Hub, housed at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), where they will receive mentorship and meet potential funders. The ATIH is a specially designed physical space that brings together researchers, creators, and innovators to cultivate ideas, nurture start-ups, and explore business opportunities.
Given the above, young Africans up to 35 and postgraduate students are encouraged to enter the challenge. The platform will open on December 10, 2024, to receive entries.
