12 Countries112 Main Event Delegates19 Speakers100 Side Event Delegates

1.08%

1.08%

2.16%

3.23%

7.53%

7.53%

11.83%

12.90%

16.13%

34.41% Policy (National and Regional)

Tour Operators, Travel Agents and Airlines

Hotels

Academia

Consultancy, Research and Advisory

Conservation NGOs

Tourism Media

Certification and Destination Management (Regional and International)

Travel Associations

Other Tourism Professional

Participants (Main Event)

2%

3%

6%

10%

13%

23%

43% Hotel

Policy and Destination Management

Tour Operators, Travel Agents and Airlines

Tourism Associations

Academia

Consultancy, Research and Advisory

Other Tourism Professionals

Participants (Eco-Certification Side Event)

1

1

1

1

2

2

3

3

4 Tour Operators and Travel Agents

Policy

Consultancy, Research and Advisory

Hotel

Conservation NGO

Certification

Academia

Destination Management Companies

Tourism Associations

Speakers

#STAS2019 PARTICIPATION IN NUMBERS

#STAS2019 PARTICIPATION IN NUMBERS

The Sustainable Tourism Africa Summit (STAS) is an annual dialogue organized by Sustainable Travel & Tourism Agenda (STTA) to inspire confidence in sustainability in tourism. The objective of every STAS is to build a case for sustainability in tourism in Africa. The discussions, centred around the product, service, destination and pol-icy in Africa, are aimed at creating awareness on sustainability trends and opportu-nities, and to inspire and motivate participants to respond to the knowledge shared by making commitments to rethink and redesign tourism in all spheres to be more sustainable. Finally it is anticipated that effective actions of many will contribute to modelling a sustainable future for Africa’s tourism.

Close to 140 delegates, representing 12 countries, participated in the 5th Sustainable Tourism Africa Summit. They represented the diversity that defines the tourism sector and sustainability agenda. There were airlines, tour operators, travel agents, lodges and camps, hotels and hoteliers, policy makers, destinations management companies, online travel agents, academia, students, tourism consultants, green suppliers, events companies, consultants, CBOs, conservation organizations, animal rights groups, conservancies, certification organizations, tourism management companies, tourism associations, researchers and consultaing organizations.

The theme for 2019 was redesigning the product, service and destination for sustain-able inclusive tourism growth in Africa. After two and half days of stimulating presentations, discussions and networking, these are the highlights from #STAS19Mombasa

Organizer Hosting Partner Partners

Selected Key Messages from Speakers

“Unharnessed opportunities in digital technology is hindering revenue reten-tion hence risking sustainability of tour-ism in Africa. We must harness technol-ogy to trace the distribution of revenue through the value chain and redesign our businesses to ensure more retention of revenue in destinations” Thomas Muel-ler, Founder, Rainmaker Digital

“Competitiveness is an illusion without sustainability” Dr. Kimaiga Ruth, Head of Strategy, Kenya Tourism Regulatory Au-thority

“As Africa strives to transform its cities from stopovers to destinations, it must pay attention to the local identity, sense of place, need of host residents. Only then will our cities be transformed to epicen-ters of culture and commerce” Archie Ojany Alai - Minister for Tourism- Coun-ty Government of Kisumu

“Measurement of tourism impact needs to get away from counting arrivals and over nights; and move towards advanc-ing global impact statistics” Martin Bal-last, Partner, TourCert

“Being inclusive is a win-win for busi-ness. Inclusivity not only empowers mi-nority groups in tourism supply and val-ue chain, but it has potential to cultivate creativity that can lead to product inno-vation and diversity of experiences for clients” Mehalla Beckett, Sub-saharan Regional Manager, PEAK DMC.

“Engaging the masses in the sustainabil-ity movement must be a structured ap-proach to reach the silent majority. It involves going inch-wide and mile deep, creating lasting advocates, finding and

motivating early adopters, going beyond personal conviction to attracting trust-ed referrals and continuously motivat-ing people you have the best chance of changing” Sam Ward, Managing Direc-tor, Kayak the Nile

“We often question whether destinations are ready for particular market seg-ments. The question should be whether the markets being targeted are ready for those destinations. Consumers have to be educated to be ready for destinations, so that their consumption patterns are within limits of sustainable standards. We need to make sure that consumers have a role in impacting positively in destinations” Prof Marina Novelli, Tour-ism Lecturer, University of Brighton

“Africa tourism global share is very small. Tourism is now a priority sector across the continent. Domestic and re-gional tourism opportunities yet to be tapped - but challenges persist. Ratifica-tion of key continental instruments and strategies urgently required to address challenges and boost intra-Africa tour-ism” Dr Geoffrey Manyara - United Na-tions Economic Commission for Africa

“Every destination has a perfect guest.” Danielle D’Silva, CSR Specialist, booking.com

“There are many great opportunities for Africa’s tourism to respond to climate crisis and scale up their actions to min-imize emissions while meeting destina-tion or company need to be competitive and innovative” Lorraine Jenks, Found-er, Greenstuff Hotelstuff

Critical Things for Africa to Consider in Redesigning Prod-uct, Practice and Business for Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism Growth in Africa

The business case for sustainable tourism in Africa remains clear. Therefore in its quest for competitiveness and growth, Africa cannot ignore sustainability. Thirteen speakers, through their presentations, reaffirmed the business case for sustainability in tourism. Each of the companies represented by the speakers had a transformative story, which emphasized the narrative that social and environmental consciousness is also about innovation, resilience, diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Africa can transform its tourism by doing the following:

Today’s traveler has so many options and with the continuous growth of emerging destinations, Africa will stand disadvan-taged if the experiences we offer are not of quality i.e. unique, creative, inclusive, diverse and able to accommodate travel-er’s desires.

Africa must not copy and paste what has worked elsewhere. A quality tourism product is determined by research, plan-ning, policy, management, marketing and delivery.

A quality product becomes worthy if it has value to the local host, the traveler and the environment. Its net impact is measured by how it responds to the 3 Ps of sustain-ability, i.e. People, Planet, and Profit.

Africa’s opportunity of becoming a com-petitive destination and diversifying its culture and nature-based tourism offer

lies in its cities. This opportunity is de-pendent on Africa transforming its cities from stopovers to destinations.

Africa’s tourism development and growth strategies should start shifting towards development and promotion of urban tourism which is great for MICE.

African cities must transform themselves, therefore, to epicenters of culture and commerce, accommodating diverse trav-elers from Africa and beyond.

Urban leaders, politicians and private sec-tor businesses must decide to shape plans for city and other existing tourism expe-riences in an orderly manner, so that cit-ies don’t get overrun, the local residents don’t get frustrated, workers feel empow-ered and both the visitors and local resi-dents have the opportunity to enjoy clean, safe and livable environments.

1. Redesigning the Product: Achieving Competitiveness through Quality & Diversification

Africa needs to keep more tourism-spend in destinations in order to sustain, de-velop and maintain destinations. This is crucial for hospitality and tourism devel-opment in Africa. Keeping more tourism spend in a destination creates thriving lo-cal economies which is necessary for pov-erty reduction, creation of employment and stability within the destination.

For most tourism and hospitality busi-nesses in Africa, 60% – 80% of profits leaks in the value chains. This percentage therefore does not contribute to the busi-ness’s performance, and the destination economic wellbeing.

Businesses must take responsibility in providing decent work and equitable work opportunities to their employees by challenging stereotypes, and champion-ing inclusion and equality

Host communities are an asset for any destination. Community empowerment should be built into destination develop-

ment agendas and tourism investments.

Businesses should be aware that consum-ers are continuously evolving and their needs ever changing. This requires digital transformation strategy which will enable destination suppliers’ access with ease their potential customers

Businesses must eliminate robotic re-sponses to client needs and should em-brace flexibility, authenticity and respon-sibility when responding to customer experiences.

Green procurement is possible. Hotels can evaluate overall environmental im-pact of every single product consumed, i.e. where raw materials are sourced from, production process, transport, safety and disposal of the product.

Businesses should positively influence and advocate for change within the sup-ply chain to ensure sustainable growth across the industry.

2. Redesigning Business Models: Achieving Competitiveness through Sustainable Value Chains

African governments should constantly pursue sustainable economic growth & de-velopment to alleviate poverty and inequality in tourism destinations. This cannot be achieved without involvement of all stakeholders, particularly residents, in tourism planning.

It is imperative for tourism planning in Africa to adopt horizontal and vertical policy coordination and integration of multiple policies, to achieve sustainable tourism de-velopment and growth because of multi-sectoral nature of tourism

Africa needs well-designed progressive tourism regulatory policies, developed through public/private sector cooperation to support the development of markets for green in-novation.

Africa’s tourism needs to educate its consumers to be ready for Africa and not vice versa. This will cushion Africa from developing “tourism legacy products.

Africa and tourism in general needs to rethink measurement of tourism impact and move away from counting arrivals and overnight stays to advancing global tourism statistics.

3. Redesigning Practice: Achieving Competitiveness through Cooperation and Coopetition

STAS 202013th-15th May 2020

Mark The DateClick here to Connect to a #STAS19Legacy for your

business

Download presentationsOverview of Tourism in Africa: Changing Trends-Dr. Manyara, UNECA

Product Innovation and Destination Competitiveness in Africa-Prof. Marina, University of Brigh-ton

Digital Technology in Travel: How to Keep More Tourism Spend In A Destination-Thomas, rain-maker digital

A Progression of the Sustainable Travel Industry: The Gaps and Opportunities for Collabora-tion-Danielle, booking.com

Responsibility of DMCs in Influencing Decent Work and Social Inclusion in the Tourism Value Chain

Green Innovations & Sustainable MICE Tourism in Africa-Kezy, Zuri Ignite

Engaging People in the Sustainability Initiatives of your Travel Destination and Business-Sam, Kayak The Nile

Emerging Luxury Sustainable Tourism Experiences for Conservation and Community Wellbeing: Case of Gorilla Conservation Coffee-Dr.Gladys, Gorilla Conservation Coffee

Cultural Tourism for Development:Case of Red Rocks Intercultural Center-Greg, Red Rocks

Innovative Products for Competitive and Responsible Travel Experiences-Angela, Let’s Go Travel Uniglobe

Role of Tourism Associations on The Sustainability of A Destination and The Best Practices for The Associations-Gloria, Association of Uganda Tour Operators

Rethinking The Measurement of Tourism Impacts in a Sustainable World-Thomas,TourCert

Unique and Innovative Models for Socially and Environmentally Conscious Tourism-Mwanase, Distant Relatives Ecolodge and Backpackers

Sustainable Customer Service Practice for the Hospitality Industry-Mwihaki, Mandharini-Kilifi

Alternative and Responsible Tourism for Sustainable Development in Africa: Case of Ivory Coast-Benedict-e,Travel and Train for Women

Over-tourism vs Under-Tourism in Africa, Prof. Marina, University of Brighton

Tourism Development and Regulatory Imperatives for Sustainability and Competitiveness in Africa, Dr. Ki-maiga,Kenya Tourism Regulatory Authority

For more information on #STAS19Mombasa and #STAS20Telephone- +254705283658 / 254718127557Email - stas@sttakenya.org / info@sttakenya.org