Tourism Summit

AFRICAN AND GLOBAL TOURISM LEADERS CONNECT AT AYTIS

Dubbed the continent’s “one and only” pan-African tourism summit and innovation challenge for youth and start-ups in tourism, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism has successfully hosted the 5th African Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit (AYTIS) & Challenge in Swakopmund in the Erongo Region. Delegates connected with African and global tourism leaders, entrepreneurial innovators and partner organisations from across the continent and the rest of the world, highlighting among others, youth empowerment initiatives, SME trade offerings including tour operators, tourism accommodation facilities, transport service providers, educational institutions, travel and marketing technology start-ups and incubators, employment agencies and professional development.

POSITIVE GROWTH

“We can all testify from observations in occupancy at local accommodation establishments that the Erongo Region and its towns such as Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and Henties Bay have attracted large numbers of local, regional and international visitors in 2022, which can be attributed to the close collaboration among the key stakeholders in the industry and the harmonisation of strategies as outlined in the Namibia Tourism Sector Recovery Plan and other supporting documents. It is therefore a fact that the sector’s real value has not recovered back to pre-pandemic levels yet, but it is showing a positive growth, hence there is a dire need to continue to keep on improving the sector’s performance”, said the Governor of the Erongo Region, Neville Andre.

"Delegates connected with African and global tourism leaders, entrepreneurial innovators and partner organisations from across the continent and the rest of the world..."

FINALISTS

The AYTIS, hosted in partnership with the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) – a United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism –and BDO Namibia, also saw the introduction of the top 5 finalists to industry leaders, mentors and potential funders and/ or partnerships. The shortlisted innovators were drawn from a pool of 113 competitive young Africans who pitched their ideas and solutions, from which 10 were selected and the top 3 finalists chosen. The winner of the 5th Youth in Tourism Innovation challenge will be announced at the Tourism Leadership Forum and Awards scheduled to take place in October this year in Botswana.

Maggie Forcelledo Paz