BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE– Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs Moses Vilakati is part of the team of politicians are changing the face of tourism in Eswatini. The African Union and The African Tourism Board will sign a Memorandum of Understanding tomorrow, opening a new chapter for tourism in Africa and Vilakati is part of the visionaries of this initiative.
This new chapter for Tourism Cooperation in Africa is also a new chapter for the African Tourism Board, the African Union, and the African Continent.
According to a communiqué sent out by the African Union, the proud Chairman of the African Tourism Board, Cuthbert Ncube, is traveling to Addis Ababa to sign this historic Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations at the African Union Headquarters.
The signing will happen on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, at 3pm.
The African Union (AU) comprises the 55 member states that comprise the African Continent’s countries. It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity.
The African Tourism Board started with a vision for marketing Africa by its founder, Juergen Steinmetz.
The ATB emerged by developing a global organisation under its leader, Chairman Cuthbert Ncube, and a team of dedicated members.
“A team of prominent tourism personalities, such as the former UNWTO Secretary General Dr. Taleb Rifai, the former minister of Tourism from Seychelles, Alain St. Ange, the Hon Memunatu Pratt, Minister of Tourism for Sierra Leone, or the Hon. Minister of Tourism for the Kingdom of Eswatini Hon. Moses Vilakati, Walter Mzembi, former Minister of Tourism for Zimbabwe are only some of the many leaders sharing and forming this vision for tourism in Africa (verbatim),” explained the communiqué.
Discussed first in 2017 and launched in Cape Town, South Africa, during the World Travel Market in 2018, the organisation is now based in the Kingdom of Eswatini with members across the continent. The African Union is the pulse of African cooperation on all levels.
Effort to get comment from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment Affairs proved to be futile by the time this article was compiled.
