The VA TourismPodcast

Make women empowerment a business imperative to sustain growth in the Tourism Sector- Aradhana Khowala

In today’s episode, the CEO of Aptamind Partners Aradhana Khowala dives deep into a series of reports released by her outfit underscoring the need to make women empowerment a business imperative to sustain the growth and promotion of women in the tourism industry.
Aradhana Khowala is one of the most influential leaders in the luxury hospitality, travel and tourism sector. Her career has spanned 23+ years, five continents, and more than 75 countries. Today, she is the CEO of Aptamind Partners, a strategic consultancy, which combines hard data and decades of experience to advise governments, emerging destinations, public and private organisations on futureproofing their business. Previously she was the Managing Director of Tourism at NEOM - the US$ 500 Billion land of the future purpose-built for a sustainable and a new way of living in Saudi Arabia.
An active board member, she has an impressive portfolio of non-executive board roles, currently serving as Chair of the Group Advisory Board of Red Sea Global in Saudi Arabia, the developer behind the Red Sea Project as well as AMAALA - the world’s first integrated wellness destination. Aradhana also serves as a Board Member of Elaf Group, the leisure arm of a sustainable listed holding company – SEDCO where she also chairs the compensation and remuneration committee. In the past she has worked for Jones Lang LaSalle, covering UK, Benelux and Scandinavian markets, a Strategy Consulting practice in Europe and Asia as well as in Hospitality Operations in India.

My vision is to make Tourism Number One foreign Exchange earner - Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism

My conversation today is with Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Tourism, Wildlife, and Heritage Peninah Malonza. She tells me the vision of the Ruto-led government is to make tourism the number foreign exchange earner for the East African giant as well as diversify its tourism products to meet the needs of the evolving traveler.
 

Kriol International Jazz Festival makes a return

Ahead of the return of the Kriol International Jazz Festival to be held in Praia, Cabo Verde from 13-15 April, I had an exclusive conversation with the lead organizer of the event Da Silver. He tells me the festival since its inception 13 years ago has been the platform to celebrate the Kriol culture and its rich history.
 

Mozambique’s e-visa rollout and its impact on Tourism

My Guest is the Director General of Mozambique’s National Institute of Tourism (INATUR) Marco Dos Anjos. Marco breaks down the numbers of its new e-visa program and what it means for the tourism sector.
 

ITB Berlin: Western Cape’s remarkable tourism recovery unravelled

In today’s episode, the Chief Destination Marketing Officer of WESGRO Monika Iuel discusses the remarkable tourism recovery of the western cape province in South Africa. She was impressed with the return of this year’s ITB Berlin and also excited with the appointment of South Africa’s new Tourism Minister Patricia de lille.
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.
 

Hilton Garden Inn Nairobi Airport celebrates 5 years of success

Episode 175 is a conversation with the General Manager of the Hilton Garden Inn Nairobi Hotel, Lorenzo Baleri. Lorenzo who opened the Airport based-hotel in 2018 is proud of the achievements of the property as it turned 5 years this year. He singles out the staff as a key driver of the feat and aims to become a training hotel.

Malawi’s Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule outlines her vision for the sector

Today’s episode is an exclusive with Malawi’s new Minister of Tourism, Vera Kamtukule. The former labour minister reveals her vision for Malawi’s tourism sector and its role in the economic transformation of the country.
Vera Kamtukule is a Malawian author, writer, and publisher and was first appointed a minister of Labour on 26th January 2022.
Hon. Vera Kamtukule is a life and leadership coach; a writer and a keynote and motivational speaker who has dedicated her life to the development of people especially women and girls of all ages across the world. She achieves this by employing unequivocally non-conventional methods which inspire people to draw motivation from deep within themselves in their quest to achieve both large and small goals they never imagined were possible.
Vera is a former Chief Executive Officer for Malawi Scotland Partnership (MaSP) Even though she is not a Member of Parliament yet, Vera was appointed as a Minister of Labour in 2022 after President Dr Lazarus Chakwera dissolved his cabinet. She had served as a Deputy Minister in the same Ministry since 8th July 2020; she is the youngest female member of the cabinet.

Outgoing CEO of Namibia Tourism Board Digu Naobeb bares it all

In today’s episode, the outgoing CEO of the Namibia Tourism Board Digu Naobeb reveals the reasons behind his resignation and gives an assessment of his 20 year leadership at NTB.