Africa
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Thomas Cook Failure: the Destination Impact
The collapse of Thomas Cook and its impact on UK outbound customers has had a great deal of coverage. Less attention had been paid to the impact in destinations. There were 600,000 stranded holidaymakers and hundreds of thousands had their holidays cancelled. Upsetting but those abroad were repatriated and all those covered by ATOL or their credit cards got their money back. For many destinations, the collapse of Thomas Cook created an existential threat. The Gambia In 2018 the UK accounted for close 30,436, in the first 6 months of 2019, there were 28,772. It is fair to say that The Gambia was growing in popularity in the UK market.…
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WTM Africa Responsible Tourism Awards 2019
ARTA19 Judges Reasons Overall: Grootbos Private Nature Reserve www.grootbos.com It is rare for a business based on a floral attraction to feature in tourism awards. Grootbos emerged as the overall winner because the judges recognised that it could have won in several categories. Grootbos has won Gold this year in recognition of the substantial growth in its conservation impacts. But there is much more to Grootbos. They deliver across the economic, social and environmental agendas. The Football Foundation provides positive role models and a safe space for local youth. It reaches 9000 youth each year and provides daily sports coaching in hockey, athletics, soccer and netball and canoeing as well…
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Responsible Tourism in Africa
On Friday in Johannesburg I shall be chairing the judging of the WTM Africa Responsible Tourism Awards, there is a strong field and we have a highly qualified panel of judges. The Africa Awards are part of the highly prestigious World Responsible Tourism Awards presented at WTM, London on World Responsible Tourism Day each November. This growing family of Awards includes the India Awards and there will WTM Latin America Awards in 2020. There is a long list of 36 from 8 countries: Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Competition is always stiff and this year is no exception. The judging process is rigorous with a…
