Over the past seven years the Department of Tourism has been hosting the Sharing of Best Practices Workshops for delegates from invited countries in Africa and the rest of the world in particular those with whom South Africa has signed MOUs or Bilateral Agreements within the field of tourism. The continued interest in the workshop has shown the value of this forum as it provides an opportunity for countries from the continent to share information and best practices in the area of tourism and to strengthen regional integration.
The focus of the Best Practices Workshops (BPW) are based on the areas of cooperation outlined in the signed tourism bilateral agreements which South Africa has signed with various countries and covers areas such as:
Exchange of tourism information, experience and expertise in the following area:
• Policies, strategies and initiatives relating to tourism development;
• Tourism destination marketing;
• National Parks for the society;
• Incentives for tourism development;
• Cross border tourism;
• Tourism resorts development;
• Trans-frontier Parks Development;
• Regional tourism marketing;
• Responsible tourism;
• Rural tourism development; and
• Community tourism development framework and projects
This Best Practice Workshop initiative is in line with the provisions of South Africa`s foreign policy which supports the development of the region and the continent. The workshop is viewed as South Africa`s initiative towards implementing the signed bilateral agreements and building tourism capacity within the African continent and strengthening of regional integration.
Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact on the tourism sector in particular, the theme for the virtual 2021 Sharing of Best Practices Workshop taking place on 2 March 2021 will be:
“Tourism Recovery post Covid-19 – a country perspective”.The objective of the workshop among others includes: sharing information and best practices and to identify strategies to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector.
The 2021 workshop will be a virtual event and the moderator is Ms Zipho Sikhakhane, Chief Executive Officer of EMZ Advisory who is dedicated to enhance organisational effectiveness and productivity.
The speakers in the opening plenary will be as follows:
Country presentations: