WHITE PAPER
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREAS
FOCUS AREA 1: Setting out the regulatory context for reopening business event travel and tourism in the Covid-19 environment in Africa i) The journey of reopening business events tourism The African continent is urged to find ways to start trading sooner rather than later, in order to stop job losses and alleviate unemployment and poverty. The business event travel and tourism sector has been proactive in making sure that industry-specific public health and safety protocol standards are developed and implemented in compliance with official governing bodies providing the stamp of approval. Continental authorities are therefore called upon to benefit from the fact that the continent reacted early and swiftly in instituting control measures at the outbreak of the pandemic, to further develop resilience strategies that will enable the sector restart business.
Adaptations to the new normal are critical for the continent to maximise its business event travel sector. Such adaptations require the element of trust between authorities on the continent. The experts highlighted that in its current form, there is a lack of trust and uniformity in the way governments are implementing the rules, and people are therefore distrustful of the way that the rules are applied. It is therefore critical that governments on the continent develop clear guidelines and protocols, but even more importantly, that these have to be communicated in an accurate and unbiased manner. People should also be encouraged to obtain their information from reliable and reputable sources. Additionally, the business event tourism sector is also encouraged to use the key stakeholders and thought leaders in the industry to start ‘creating trust’ in the clients, in the corporates, and in the
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business. While the industry is self-regulating, and currently putting great safety measures and protocols in place, there is need for a consistent effort in communicating the process aggressively and consistently. At a time where there is so much global and continental uncertainty due to the Covid-19 dynamic, silence and non-communication will further instil fear and uncertainty in an already fragile business event tourism and travel industry. In addition, the sector needs to create an environment of capacity building and strengthening. With the advent of the pandemic, new opportunities have arisen in the area of the digital economy. Conferences and meetings have migrated to online platforms. Across the continent, while countries have been adopting and adapting to digital platforms, there has been limited collaboration in terms of how such platforms are standardised, and how they are leveraged in terms implementation across country borders. Africa
