The VA TourismPodcast

Discovering West African Cuisines with Yasmine Fofana

My Guest today, Yasmine Fofana, a gastronomy content creator and storyteller discusses in detail her journey to becoming one of Africa’s leading voices in the promotion of culinary and its culture. She tells me about her new project with Africa No Filter as a narrative champion for the advancement of African gastronomy in francophone West Africa.
Yasmine Fofana is the pioneer when it comes to promoting the culinary scene of Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa). She did not only launch the 1st food blog of Côte d’Ivoire in 2012: “Journal d’une Foodie” now rebranded as “Afrofoodie”, but she also launched the 1st Restaurant week of Côte d’Ivoire: “Abidjan Restaurant Week”. Thanks to her continuous efforts in sharing Côte d’Ivoire culinary scene with the world, Yasmine was selected as a Mandela Washington Fellow under President Obama’s Young Africa Leaders Initiative in 2016 and a Chevening Scholar in 2017-2018.
For the past 10 years, her mission has been to shift the African narrative through its cuisine and promote Gastronomy tourism on the continent. Yasmine recently became an Africa No Filter narrative champion and is looking forward to exploring West African flavors .

Toni Ukachuwu discusses Walk for Love Africa Project

My conversation today is with CEO of Aviators Africa Toni Ukachuwu.Toni is leading an initiative dubbed walk for Love Africa. The project aims among other things to ramp up vaccination drive in Africa and also impress on African leaders to reduce bottlenecks that hamper intra Africa travel in the region.
Toni Ukachuwu is an experienced aviation, travel and tourism management professional with international exposure. He has more than 15years of experience and has provided strategic and people leadership for leading hospitality and aviation businesses in emerging markets. He possesses senior-level experience in media, Aviation, and marketing communications.
Toni is the publisher/ CEO of Aviators Africa, an integrated PR and marketing company that services the travel and tourism sectors.He also founded Aviators Africa Academy, a social enterprise that seeks to inspire and engage the next generation in aviation and Aerospace in Africa.
Toni is The founder of Walk for Love Africa. A pan African advocacy campaign initiative pushing for a connected and borderless Africa
 

Africa can drive tourism traffic with its unique Gastronomy offerings- Eric Pateman

In today’s episode, Eric Pateman, one of the world's leading culinary brand and marketing strategists, having written numerous culinary tourism and brand strategies for nations such as Canada and NZ is of the opinion that, gastronomy’s power in driving traffic to destinations especially in Africa has not been maximized enough to bring the much needed benefits to the community.
With over 25 years in business and the global hospitality industry, Eric is the nation’s leading ambassador for Canadian cuisine and one of the top international experts on culinary tourism, sharing his expertise with clients around the globe from the USA and the UK to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and beyond.
He is a storyteller for hundreds of artisan food companies, farmers, fishers, foragers and is known to bring together chefs and influencers from all aspects of the culinary world around the globe. With one of the most well-developed networks in the culinary world, Eric is constantly at the forefront of the global food movement.

Regional Director for Africa at UNWTO Elcia Grandcourt unpacks activities and Projects in Africa for 2022

In my first episode for the year 2022, the Regional Director for Africa at the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Elcia Grandcourt looks back at the successes the organization chalked in Africa in spite of the challenges of the covid-19 pandemic. She looks into the year with lots of optimism for the tourism sector and takes a deep dive into the programs and activities in Africa  for this year.
 

Talking Sports and Tourism in Africa with Prince Deji Ajomale-McWord

In today’s episode, the founder of African Sports Tourism Week, Prince Deji Ajomale-McWord  takes a look at the power of sports in driving tourism in Africa.
He’s a sports tourism consultant. In his home country Nigeria, he served in the Sports Industry Thematic Group under the auspices of Nigeria Economic Summit Group, where he gave recommendations on how to drive local and international arrivals, using sport. The recommendations he gave, alongside that of other bright minds in the sport, environment, and tourism industries, dovetailed into a draft that was eventually adopted as a blueprint for the Nigerian sports industry, on which an MoU signed between the Federal Ministry of Youth & Sports and NESG was predicated. 
He’s the author of ‘Life, Humanity & Leadership According To Golf’ and ‘Mulligan of Mercy’
 

South Africa impressed with showing at Dubai Expo 2020

My guest Altaaf Kazi , General Manager Global PR, Communications and Stakeholder Relations at South African Tourism looks at South Africa’s participation at the ongoing Dubai 2020 Expo. He says SA’s participation has afforded the opportunity to convince the world and shift perception around safety and security issues which has been unfairly reported by the western media.
Altaaf Kazi is seasoned media professional with two decades of experience spanning various roles in the media, sports, and tourism industries.
His professional career started out in Radio and TV as a sports news reporter, landed roles as a TV presenter and producer before moving into the corporate communication space heading up media and communications departments in Football, Cricket, and Tourism in South African organisations.
 

InsideSeychelles: Discovering Levasseur Rum , the Spirit of Seychelles

In today’s episode, the founder of Levasseur Rum Marco Francis takes a deep dive into the complementary role of the premium Laverser rum in the promotion of destination Seychelles. He says Rum is an inherent part of the island lifestyle.
Levasseur Rum is a dark rum produced in Seychelles, expressing patience, richness, quality, master blending, and is Bourbon barrel aged to perfection.
 

InsideSeychelles: I am encouraged with Booking Trend-Casa De Leela Owner Robert Pool

My conversation today is on how the tourism sector of Seychelles has managed to get tourism going in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. On my visit to the archipelago island, I caught up with the founder and owner of la Digue-based casa de Leela Robert Pool. Robert tells me even though the booking trend has changed drastically, it is very encouraging and he is optimistic about the return of tourism to its full flight. 
Born on 28/01/1978 in La Digue, Seychelles Robert started life in the tourism industry at the age of 16 working in a hotel as a PR Assistant for a year. He then worked for a Commercial Helicopter Company for 10 years. Started as  Heli Attendant and resigned as Operations Manager for Inner Islands.
He started his own venture in 2004 as a Taxi Operator which is still running as of now. In 2007, Robert started a small Guest House with his wife Colette. Today they own two establishments Casa De Leela & Cocolux Apartments. ( 20 rooms in total) Robert enjoys interacting with people and loves his home country,  Seychelles Island.