The Knowledge Economy reflects the increased importance of knowledge and enables innovation.
The Department of Tourism is hosting The Best Practices Workshop 2023 which is a three-day event that is held from Wednesday, 8 to 10 March 2023 in Cape Town. The theme is: “Rethinking Tourism - Tourism Transformation: Women, Youth and Community Participation.”
This 10th edition of the Sharing of Best Practices Workshop is attended by delegates from Africa, in particular those with whom South Africa has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and enjoy bilateral cooperation with.
The Best Practices Workshops is a mechanism for the Department of Tourism to implement existing agreements between the Department and its African counterparts through information sharing on matters related to sustainable tourism growth and development. The platform is aligned to the provisions of South Africa's foreign policy which supports the development of the region and the continent. The workshop can be viewed as an initiative by South Africa towards implementing the signed bilateral agreements and building tourism capacity within the African continent and strengthening regional and continental integration.
The continued interest in the workshop has shown its value of this mechanism to our counterparts from the African continent to be exchange knowledge in the field of tourism. The workshop is conducted and used as part of implementing the signed bilateral agreements or Memorandums of Understanding and contributes to regional integration.
The focus of this year’s session is on women, youth and community participation in the tourism sector, with speakers from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), South African National Parks and the Department of Tourism. In addition, WESGRO presented on Air Access in Africa, a perspective from the Western Cape.
In his keynote address the Director-General of the Department of Tourism, Mr Victor Tharage said: “African regions each offer their own best practice, so we should take pride in associating with each other instead of competing. We need to open our markets to each other.”
Countries present includes in the workshop are Algeria, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Palestine, Seychelles and Zambia.
“A lot of work has gone into the past 10 years of this workshop and it promises to be a big event in the calendar of the continent. We should create conditions whereby we train and retain the knowledge base within the region, especially amongst our youth,” the Director-General concluded.
Through this workshop, the Department of Tourism continues to support and advance the knowledge economy as an integral part of tourism development.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Ms Susan de Bruin
Director: External Communications
Department of Tourism
Cell: +27 (82) 9217303
Email: sdebruin@tourism.gov.za