The VA TourismPodcast

In today's episode, Dr. Bénédicte Savoy, Author of ''Africa's struggle for lost Arts, a history of post colonial defeat'' unpacks her works and research on Africa's lost arts. She tells me nearly a million African arts and ornaments are in European museums and is optimistic today's adult generation will witness the return of very important pieces of art to the continent.

Bénédicte Savoy is a professor in the Department of Art History at the Technical University of Berlin and was a professor at the Collège de France in Paris from 2016 to 2021. She is the coeditor of Translocations: Histories of Dislocated Cultural Assets; Acquiring Cultures: Histories of World Art on Western Markets; and The Museum Is Open: Towards a Transnational History of Museums. She is the author (with Felwine Sarr) of The Restitution of African Cultural Heritage: Toward a New Relational Ethics, known as the Sarr-Savoy Report. She lives in Berlin.

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At the ongoing First Global Youth Tourism Summit in Sorrento, Italy, I caught up with Founders of Kids against plastic initiative Amy and Ella Meek. They tell me it is idealistic and over-ambitious to target plastic-free world, instead, they believe in Plastic Clever, a concept which is attainable even if it means doing small things to minimize the impacts of plastic pollution.

In today’s episode the CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa sheds light on the council’s inaugural Tourism Leadership Conference scheduled to take place in Sun City Resort in the Northwest Province, South Africa from the 14th-16th September 2022.

My Conversation today is with the Acting General Manager of Accra City Hotel Divine Matey. He tells me the premier 4-star hotel is poised to deepen its credentials as an environmentally conscious and sustainable hospitality provider by adapting five of the UN Sustainability Goals (SDGs)

In today’s episode, South Africa’s Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu discusses in detail the restart activities of tourism in South Africa. Speaking to me on the sidelines of the just-ended UNWTO 116thExecutive Council meeting in Jeddah, the veteran politician tells me the pandemic has assisted the industry to rethink how to make tourism a real force for good. Minister Sisulu says South Africa is ready to welcome the world.

In today’s episode, Boipelo Tladinyane Hlubi a solo traveler and author of a travel memoir titled: “A safari back to self – Backpacking 54 countries in Africa” narrates her fascinating travels in Africa having literally covered the entire continent with public transport.

Having travelled to 4 continents across the world, it is her solo travels across 54 African countries that has captured her heart the most. She is left with only one country (not due to lack of trying from her side) to complete setting foot in the whole continent. She shares her story as a contribution to reclaiming the African narrative in hope that this brings a certain understanding amongst Africans and pride that compels us to do better for one another and see the need to build for the benefit of each and every one of us.

Besides an African map clearly outlining the routes she took from one country to the next, her self-published book vividly depicts minute by minute details of her authentic journey across Africa, crossing land borders and using public transport. You get an insider’s account as she navigates between cultures, religions, languages, currencies, issues and delights across the rest of Africa. From attending weddings, funerals, throwing kiddies parties, night clubs, getting hospitalized, sleeping on rooftops, at the beach, on the roadside among strangers, at the police station, starring in her own movie of jumping on and off moving vehicles, surviving deportation, endless immigration processes - to being fed and warmly welcomed into homes of people who felt the need to protect her regardless of having never met her before.

Boipelo is an alumna of Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) with a N-Dip in Engineering Computer Systems and a B-Tech degree in Knowledge Management.

My Guest today is the cofounder of Karibu KiliFair Tourism Expo Dominic Shoo. The vibrant tourism show is back after 2 years and he tells me his team is encouraged by the level of participation for this year’s edition, which takes place from 3rd to 5th of June 2022 at the Magereza Ground in Arusha Tanzania.

KARIBU/KILIFAIR is the leading international Outdoor Tourism & Industry Fair in Tanzania, promoting and presenting companies based in the Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania, and East Africa as a destination.

In today’s conversation, Corné Koch the Head of the Western Cape Convention Bureau Takes a deep dive into the state of the MICE sector in the province and its preparedness for the post covid era as live events makes a glorious return.

A passionate promoter of South Africa, Corné commenced her formal career at the South African Chamber of Commerce as Manager of Corporate Affairs.  She then entered the destination marketing sector in 2003 as the Gauteng Tourism Authority’s Business Tourism Manager.  Pursuing her other passion, that of strategic communication, she took the role as Communications Manager at the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa before her desire for tourism marketing enticed her back to Gauteng Tourism Authority in 2010.

 She then had another three-year stint as Trade Development and Partnership Manager.  In 2014 she moved to Cape Town and joined Wesgro, (the official destination marketing organization for the Western Cape. South Africa) in her current role as Head of the Cape Town & Western Cape Convention Bureau. Corne is the immediate past Board Chair of the BestCities Global Alliance as well as on the Board of the Cape Castle Control Board and the International Congress and Convention Association.

At the just-ended Africa’s Travel Indaba in Durban, South Africa, I caught up with Malawi’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife Dr. Michael Usi who discussed in detail the ambitious Tourism master plan launched by President Chakwera.

The Minister revealed that the master plan is aimed at courting investors to the sector and also a paradigm shift in the economic dynamics of the Southern African Country.

My conversation today is with the Chief Marketing Officer of Wesgro Monika iuel on Western Cape’s progress in its tourism restart strategy. She says she is encouraged by the present numbers of inbound travels to cape town which presently sits at 55% of 2019 figures.

Monika has a long-standing passion for Southern African tourism, a deep knowledge of the international marketplace, and strong industry relationships at home and abroad. She has extensive experience in the industry, spending the first half of her career in the inbound tourism industry, including 13 years at Tourvest Destination Management.

Monika then spent 4 years at South African Tourism, initially as Regional Director for the Americas and ultimately as General Manager International Marketing, supporting all international SA Tourism offices in Europe, Americas and Australasia. Returning once again to the private sector, Monika served for 5 years as CEO of Private Safaris, a Destination Management Company operating from offices in Cape Town and Windhoek. At the helm, she successfully steered the business to its new owners, Fairfax Financial Holdings (based in Toronto) in 2017, and together with her team, led the resultant reinvention of the business.

Deepening her love for her country and ready to promote the Western Cape province to the world, in January 2021 Monika accepted the role of Chief Marketing Officer at Wesgro, the Official Tourism, Trade, Investment and Film Agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, where she leads an inspiring team of place marketers and aims to make the region the top choice in Africa for tourism or business.