International Tourism and Investment Conference (ITIC) has announced a strategic alliance with World Travel Market (WTM) Africa – owned by Reed Exhibitions – that will see the two organisations leveraging their strengths and commitment to propel growth in travel and tourism through a series of targeted investment events.
This series of virtual and live conferences is designed to stand out as a sought-after platform to stimulate a new thought process focusing on and discussing key global tourism challenges, business and investment opportunities in the sector, with a special focus on Africa and its island destinations.
ITIC provides B2B travel investment conferences and has developed as a specialised global tourism investment platform that brings together investors, financial and legal services, technology experts, government tourism ministers, tourism and travel industry leaders and professionals, policy-makers and public and private project owners and developers to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
Chairman of ITIC and former Secretary-General of UNWTO, Dr Taleb Rifai, said: “Such an alliance between the WTM Africa and ITIC with their complementary services will inevitably present significant opportunities for the tourism and travel industry in the continent.”
The conferences will also help drive international awareness and investments in Africa and surrounding island destinations as well as act as a catalyst for growth. These will attract private equity firms, institutional investors, fund managers and influencers, who have the power to channel capital and to raise funds by using key regional stock exchanges to raise and structure funds to invest in live and bankable tourism projects.
The objective is to make tourism a driver to boost and develop the other industries with the eco-system in a sustainable manner – SMEs within different sectors to support the tourism industry – such as agriculture, manufacturing, energy, technology, textile and many sectors of the economy to create employment and wealth within the country and for the benefit of the people.
Megan Oberholzer, Portfolio Director: Travel, Tourism & Creative Industries Portfolio for Reed Exhibitions South Africa., commented: “With investment being an important lifeblood for Africa’s tourism sector, providing this extraordinary range of opportunities for collaboration not only in conjunction with Africa Travel Week but throughout the year, will shine a spotlight on the major investment opportunities available.”
A post-conference Concept Paper as a guideline to tourism investment will be made available to delegates and key tourism stakeholders.
The respective events
ITIC and WTM Africa will host the virtual Africa Tourism Investment Summit, which forms part of Africa Travel Week from April 7-9, and a further virtual event on June 24.
The overall theme for the conference series will be ‘Africa: Post-COVID-19 Investment Opportunities in Sustainable Tourism’, covering the major aspects of the sector with an approach of 'THINK TOURISM 360°'.
The conference is designed to be the first in a series of virtual summits starting on April 7 and will feature a Ministerial Roundtable with senior government speakers representing African nations in a one-hour session from 12h30 to 13h30 Central African Time. The session on April 8 will run for two-and-a-half hours, from 10h30 to 13h00 CAT, featuring three topics covering re-setting business financing, travel and health in the post COVID-19 era and new project investment opportunities.
Each session in April will be a teaser and introduction for the Second Africa Virtual Tourism Investment Summit to be held on June 24.
Furthermore, as part of Africa Travel Week Connect in the City – an in-person event held in Cape Town from September 1-3 – Africa Tourism Investment Summit and ITIC will host a deal room on September 2. Project owners, investors and financiers will have the opportunity to meet in-person with selected participants to showcase their development projects and funding requirements to prospective funders.
