For the first time ever, travel agents and tour operators from Nigeria and Ghana will converge for an industry conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference being organised by the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) is in collaboration with the Tour Operators’ Union of Ghana (TOUGHA).
It is expected to assemble industry players from West Africa and the rest of the continent to learn, exchange ideas, and deepen engagements with one another. Also top on the agenda will be how the agents and operators can scale up the intra-Africa travel agenda, especially between West Africa and South Africa.
The full day conference will also feature a stellar lineup of speakers and facilitators, who are expected to share knowledge and experiences about industry operations, current and emerging trends and how to fast-track Africa’s tourism recovery.
Alisa Osei-Asamoah, president, TOUGHA, believes that the conference is timely to reinvigorate travel and tourism businesses on the continent.
“The timing of this conference couldn’t have been better considering that it offers those of us in the industry an exciting opportunity to reorganize, re-strategize and inject new energy into our operations and businesses. I look forward to the conversations and the learnings that this meeting will present to all of us who would be privileged to attend,” she said.
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The conference, which takes place on May 5, 2023 at the University of Johannesburg, is planned to coincide with this year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba in Durban. The Travel Indaba comes off from May 8 -11, 2023 and the travel fair provides an opportunity for the NANTA conference attendees to participate in it.
There are also planned tours and sightseeing activities before and after the conference, including a road trip from Johannesburg to Durban.
Osei-Asamoah expressed appreciation to her counterparts from Nigeria and South Africa for the partnership with TOUGHA to be part of the conference.
“It is not every day that we see this kind of collaboration between and among travel agents and tour operators from different countries. So, we are really grateful to NANTA led by Susan Akporiaye for extending the gesture to us to be part of this very important conference.
“I also applaud the efforts of South African Tourism, who are helping a great deal in facilitating the conference. I have, no doubt, that it will be a great success and I look forward to fruitful discussions.”
On her part, Susan Akporiaye, president, NANTA, is hopeful of fruitful exchanges among tour operators and travel agents from across the participating countries.
