The two arms of the African Tourism Board had their official launch event yesterday at the Cape Town International Convention Center Conference Theatre during World Tavel Market Africa.
The African Tourism Board Association and the African Tourism Board Marketing Association are joining under the brand African Tourism Board and are now seen as a new Chapter on how Africa becomes one tourism destination. Both arms have access to the “ATB friends of the media group”, and are coordinating activities and events whenever possible.
The Association is fully under African Leadership. It’s based in South Africa, and is forming an initial group of directors to work with newly appointed President Alain St. Ange from Seychelles.
On his team of supporters are Cuthbert Ncube, Regional Vice-Chair UNWTO Affiliate Membership and Chief Executive Director Kwela Fleet Management. The Hon. Minister or Tourism for the Kingdom of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, Kwakye Donker, CEO African Tourism Partners in Ghana and South Africa, Francoise Kameni Lele, AFBS Cameron, the Hon. Minister Madam Memunatu B. Pratt, the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs for Sierra Leone, among many others.
African Tourism Board Marketing Association is based in the United States and is providing overseas marketing support for Africa under the leadership of Juergen Steinmetz of the eTN Group in Hawaii, USA and Doris Woerfel in Pretoria, South Africa. Together with a team of global supporters, the marketing arm of ATB will explore new opportunities and cost-sharing projects for inbound tourism for the African Continent.
As a start at the ATB launch last night Dov Kalmann explained the potential of travelers from Israel for Africa and introduced the new African Tourism Board office in Tel Aviv.
Arjun Mukund from Delhi, India said 1.2 billion Indians are current and future potential travelers and he wanted to make sure the African Tourism Board in India will help to achieve growing interest for Indian tourists.
Additional ATB offices are planned in the United States and Germany to start with.
Chairman Juergen Steinmetz explained: “Sharing resources, going after potential niche markets, sharing costs and giving both destinations and stakeholders representation in key markets will help to raise awareness for the African continent. We like to open a window for large, medium and small businesses in a sustainable way.”
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Newly appointed CEO Doris Woerfel sees huge potential for Africa from China and will be concentrating to build a broad membership base in Africa for ATB.
The launch was an action-packed event in Capetown hosted by Carol Weaving, Managing Director of Reed Exhibition Africa. She pledged the support of the World Travel Market for African Tourism Board.
Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy supported the need for an African Tourism Board in his welcome remark.
The highlight of the event was a 30-minute presentation by Dr. Peter Tarlow on security and safety. There is no tourism without security, he said in an engaging session last night. Dr. Tarlow was appointed as the new Travel & Security advisor for African Tourism Board Marketing Association. He is leading safertourism.com
The launch started with a dinner sponsored by Tony Smith of the HongKong based iFREE Group . The group also provided free ATB sim cards to everyone attending.
Professor Geoffrey Lipman introduced the African Lung initiative by video.
More information on African Tourism Board please visit www.africantourismboard.com
