The VA TourismPodcast

The Unmissable Africa Travel and Tourism Summit 2021

Ahead of the maiden Africa Travel and Tourism Summit scheduled to be held next week in South Africa, Chief Convention Bureau Officer of the South African National Convention Bureau Mrs. Amanda Kotze-Nlapo discusses the need for Africa to look at the opportunity the pandemic has offered to work together in furtherance of the Intra Africa travels and trade. Amanda tells me Delegates will have the opportunity to create their own conference and choose topics and activities that most appeal to them on a personal and business level.
Mrs Kotze-Nhlapo joined South African Tourism following a successful tenure at the Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau where she held the position of head of the Bureau for six years. Amanda has 20 years of experience in the industry. 
Register for the summit here 

Ghana's Kizomba Dance Couple opens up on VA Tourism Podcast

My conversation today is with Ghana’s Kizomba dance King and Queen, Ebow Anderson and Nana Kwatemaa. The effervescent dance couple in the last decade has thrilled and trained lovers of the Angolan kizomba genre. They make the point that dancing is more than just entertainment but portents for keeping a healthy lifestyle and adding to Ghana’s marquee credentials as a bustling cosmopolitan destination.

An exclusive with Namibia's Director of Tourism & Gaming Zebulun Chicalu

In this episode, the New Director of Tourism and Gaming at Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism Zebulun Chicalu discusses the country’s recovery strategy and their target of a diverse tourism source market. Namibia which until 2-weeks ago had been on a lockdown is optimistic domestic will return and become a key component to their revival strategy.
 
 

Sabine Lehmann unpacks SA's First Attractions Benchmark Survey Report.

Ahead of the Virtual African Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions (AAVEA) Conference, Executive Director of the Association Sabine Lehmann takes a deep dive into South Africa’s first Attractions Benchmark survey report. She points to data as one key ingredient if Africa is to build back better.
Sabine Lehmann has first-hand insight into the challenges and opportunities facing the attractions industry – especially on the African continent. Having held leadership roles in some of South Africa’s most iconic tourist attractions Sabine understands from the inside out how difficult it is to run a profitable and sustainable attraction in a world that is constantly changing.
Sabine is committed to building African attractions and is the founder and Chair of the African Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions (AAVEA)  and a government relations committee member of the IAPPA (The Global Association for the Attractions Industry). She holds an MBA from the University of Cape Town and an MPhil (Futures) from the  Stellenbosch University.

Roman Krabel: From Chef to Managing leading Hotel Chains

My conservation today is with the General Manager of Ghana’s Accra City Hotel Roman Krabel. Roman who has been spearheading operations & pre-openings for world-leading Hotels, along with private brands and properties ranking from 5 to 3 Stars and managing facilities with 450+ rooms in Europe, Asia, the US and Africa discusses the challenges and opportunities of the hospitality sector in West Africa.
Originally from Germany, Roman started his career in culinary arts; He was a Chef for many years. In 2000,  he made career switch to Sales & Marketing, HR and F&B Management and eventually, this led him to become a successful GM. His culinary art and F&B background gave him self-discipline and the mentality for attention to details. The foundation of his success in West Africa (Nigeria and Ghana) lies in his attention to detail, and as a highly motivated person, always works hard to ensure that all processes are efficient. In every hotel that I have worked, I not only bring new energy, fresh ideas and a different way of thinking, but also help fellow work colleagues to achieve their full potential.
Mr. Roman Krabel is also a recipient of over 25 Awards for Professional Achievements including, “Best General Manager” in Africa - World Luxury Hotel Awards 2017, “Most admired GM of the Year” - Africa Hotel Industry Leadership Awards 2018, “Best General Manager” in Africa – International Travel Awards 2019.

Africa Youth in Tourism Conversations: Incorporating the Principles of Business Sustainability for Startups by Akwasi Obeng Adjei

This Episode is a dedicated show to the recently held Africa Youth in Tourism and Innovation Summit in Accra, Ghana. My Guest Akwasi Obeng Adjei, an academic and a seasoned audit director in the financial services industry based in South Africa who also participated at the summit as a speaker, a jurist and a panelist has been sharing his experience of the conference and advises start-ups to incorporate the principles of business sustainability in their models.
He is currently the Director of Audit: Investment Management (South Africa) and Insurance (Rest of Africa) at Absa Bank South Africa and an academic with a vested interest in the Future of Work as a discipline. He has presented on this subject matter at several conferences and organisations and has received numerous accolades. He is a Ph.D. Candidate (Wits) and holds an MBA (Stellenbosch), MCOM (Wits), BSc Hons Management(UJ), BSc IT & Mathematics qualifications. 

Rwanda's Divine Uwase talks Clean and Sustainable Tourism, Digital Marketing and Entreprenuership

My Guest, Divine Uwase, is the founder & CEO of SHARAMA Events & Tours. An eco-friendly tour operating and event planning company based in Rwanda. She has been discussing with me her passion for Clean and Sustainable Tourism, Digital Marketing, and how Africa can tap into the opportunity the covid-19 pandemic presents to build a robust sustainable tourism product with technology as its core base.
She is passionate about Clean and Sustainable Tourism, Digital Marketing, and everything entrepreneurship. Her company offers seamless travel and celebratory experiences to both locals and international guests with unique packages.
With her expertise in Digital Marketing, her company added a new division to help brands stand out through Online Marketing Services. She has worked on various projects with different organizations such as Hanga Ahazaza | Giz, Rwanda Chamber of Tourism and Ikaze PCO.
Her Company SHARAMA Events & Tours has been recognized in 25 Rwandan female-led outstanding businesses in BK Urumuri Initiative and Tourism Inc. in 2020.She holds a Tourism & Hospitality Diploma from Davis College | Akilah Campus, and prior to her startup she worked with Hotel des Mille Collines as a Front Desk agent. She is very zealous about the Tourism and Hospitality industry and committed to its growth. One last fun fact; She is just 22 years old

Talking Innovation and Tourism Education with UNWTO's Natalia Bayona

My Guest today is the Director of Innovation, Education, and Investments at the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Natalia Bayona. She walks me through the initiatives the Madrid-based UN Tourism Agency has embarked on to help growing tourism investments into Africa. 
 
Natalia Bayona leads the innovation, education and investments strategy of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations specialized agency for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and accessible tourism worldwide. 
With a diverse background in politics, destination management and business, she has become the first innovation director at UNWTO, has introduced entrepreneurship and education as key factors for tourism and development, and has positioned UNWTO as an innovation benchmark within the wider United Nations system as recognized in the UN 2020 Mapping of Innovation, Data and Digital Capacities. 
Her work consists of identifying the most disruptive startups and investment projects and matching them with Member States and leading corporations. As an advocate of youth and technology, she seeks to make entrepreneurs grow for a promising future in all regions. 
During the last 3 years, Natalia has developed 7 UNWTO Startup Competitions and 6 Innovation Challenges with outcomes such as more than 74 million USD in support for entrepreneurs and pilots for safe travel. Moreover, she has designed the Tourism Tech Adventures innovation forums and co-created the UNWTO Tourism Online Academy, the pioneer platform for advancing skill development for the sector in collaboration with the most prestigious universities such as IE University, Cornell University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, currently with over 10.000 students. Furthermore, she has created the UNWTO Technical Committee on Tourism Online Education and acts as its Secretary to ensure education is at the forefront of the global agenda. 
 Natalia graduated in Government and International Relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia and holds an Executive MBA from the IE Business School. Nowadays, she is part of the World Economic Forum (WEF) network as a European Digital Leader and is an Eisenhower Fellow as the first Colombian on the Women Leadership Program for creating the first Tourism for Tomorrow Programme: a high-level network focused on joining public-private efforts for high-impact investments in digital education and innovation for tourism’s sustainable development and post Covid-19 recovery. Additionally, she enjoys sharing knowledge by teaching at universities – Harvard, Externado (Colombia) and Bilkent (Turkey) – and public schools in Colombia as part of her give back to youth and her country.