The Africa
Travel Association (ATA)
will hold its sixth annual U.S.-Africa
Tourism Seminar in
Washington D.C. on
Friday, March 8.
Co-sponsored
once again by the
Travel & Adventure Show and organized in
cooperation with the African Union Mission to the USA, the
international event brings tourism professionals from around the
world and diplomatic representatives from Africa together to learn
about Africa’s latest growth trends, tourism projections and
marketing tools for selling travel to
Destination Africa.
Confirmed
participants at the 2013 event include the Ministries of Tourism of
Cameroon and Zimbabwe, as well as diplomatic representatives from the
African Union Mission to the USA and Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana,
Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. Senior representatives
from the following organizations have confirmed participation:
Affluent Hospitality, Afrique Expansion, Afropop, APG USA, Arik
Air, Delta
Airlines, EPIC Global Media, Ethiopian Airlines,
The Bradford Group, National Tour Association (NTA), Office of
Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the Department of the
Interior, Office of Travel & Tourism Industries at the
US Department
of Commerce, Thinking Forward Media, South African
Airways, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Washington DC, Travel
& Adventure Show.
Under
the banner of “Marketing Destination Africa 2020,” the seminar’s
one-day program is designed with educational workshops that present a
range of opportunities for travel industry buyers and sellers to grow
their knowledge and expertise on all things Africa. Sessions will
focus on marketing and promoting destinations and attractions,
leveraging social media to grow companies and destinations and
airline growth. Delegates will also receive the most recent updates
on outbound US travel to Africa.
With
a growing number of business
travelers flying to Africa, high-end hotels
being built across the continent, and a growing middle
class, business and leisure arrivals to and
investments in Africa are expected to continue to increase steadily
over the next decade. To highlight these developments, the seminar
includes updates on Africa product development.
Benefits
of participation include:
• Travel
and Adventure Show – Delegates will receive a complimentary ticket
to the two-day travel show that follows the seminar on March 9-10,
2013.
•
Cost-effective
networking – The seminar fosters business exchange and linkages
between the public and private sectors and presents opportunities to
connect with well-qualified sellers and buyers.
•
Education
– Full day of destination and buyer and supplier based-workshops
with the most up-to-date information on Destination Africa. Sponsored
coffee and lunch included.
• Prizes
– Two (2) nights at a top-hotel in Victoria
Falls,
one of the seven natural wonders of the world; and right of first
refusal to participate in familiarization trips to Kenya or Zimbabwe
in 2013.
The
2013 event will kick off with an evening reception on Thursday, March
7 spotlighting Cameroon as a site for tourism arrivals and investment
from the United States. Co-hosted by the
Ministry of Tourism and Leisure of Cameroon, the networking event
for the travel industry will highlight the upcoming ATA
World Congress, to be held in Cameroon in May 2013 and share updates
on the program.
ATA
welcomes two returning event sponsors: South African Tourism (SAT)
and the Travel and Adventure Show.
