The Africa Tourism Leadership Forum, which concludes on Friday evening with an awards ceremony for tourism’s top performers, is not just a talk shop. So says the acting CEO of the Botswana Tourism Organisation, Keitumetse Setlang.
This comes after, South Africa’s Tourism Minister, Patricia De Lille, warned that the forum must not just all talk and no action, saying it needed to come up with solutions to critical issues hampering tourism in Africa.
Speaking at the Grand Palm Hotel in Gaborone where hundreds of stakeholders from across Africa and the world have been gathering since Tuesday, Setlang says there is proof that the forum forces governments to implement policies that enable and improve intra-Africa travel and tourism.
Keitumetse Setlang says there’s proof that the Africa Tourism Leadership Forum is not just a talk shop. #SABCNews #ATLF2023 #AfCFTA pic.twitter.com/Y03cAPTWey
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) October 6, 2023
Setlang says over and above the need to liberalise air travel in Africa, there is a need to improve other modes of transport on the continent.
Africa accounts for only for less than 2% of global air travel. With Africa’s socio-economic conditions, is too much emphasis bring put on air travel to boost intra-Africa travel?
Acting CEO of Botswana Tourism Organization, Keitumetse Setlang. #SABCNews #ATLF2023 #AfCFTA pic.twitter.com/sfeidj8Vxx
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) October 6, 2023
Also in attendance is author Boipelo Tladinyane-Hlubi, who has written a memoir on her solo travels to all 54 African countries by road. She has shared some of her experience traveling the length and breadth of Africa.
One of the people in attendance at the #ATLF2023 is author Boipelo Tladinyane-Hlubi, who has written a memoire on her solo travels to all 54 African countries by road.
She has shared some of her experience traveling the length and breath of Africa. #SABCNews #AfCFTA pic.twitter.com/3MAU933hPS
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) October 5, 2023
Tladinyane-Hlubi has explained why she traveled the rest of Africa by road, even though she feels a lot still needs to be done to improve the road infrastructure on the continent.#SABCNews #ATLF2023 #AfCFTA pic.twitter.com/umXynfyQqO
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) October 5, 2023
According to the author of “A Safari Back to Self-Backpacking 54 Countries in Africa” food was the highlight of her travels. She says she’d like to see Africa moving to have one African passport with easier movement through the continent.
According to the author of “A safari back to self – Backpacking 54 countries in Africa” food was the highlight of her travels.
She says she’d like to see Africa moving to have one African passport with easier movement through the continent.#SABCNews #ATLF2023 #AfCFTA pic.twitter.com/gbRFJrozxZ
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) October 5, 2023
She has encouraged the youth to travel the length and breadth of Africa and openly talk about their experiences.
Tladinyane-Hlubi says the on-the-ground experience she got in the different African countries was not as how the continent is usually written about. #SABCNews #ATLF2023 #AfCFTA pic.twitter.com/FWQOgNnAAj
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) October 5, 2023
