The Botswana Tourism Investment Summit aims to spotlight the country as an economic tiger in the making for its untapped tourism and investment opportunities.

The highly anticipated ‘Botswana Tourism Investment Summit’ hosted by International Tourism Investment Corporation Ltd (ITIC – www.itic.uk) in partnership with Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) will be held in Gaborone, Botswana on 22-24 November 2023 and will aim to highlight the country’s strong potential and untapped tourism and investment opportunities.

The Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) and International Tourism and Investment Conference (ITIC), in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have today announced that the upcoming ITIC Tourism Investment Summit will take place in Gaborone, Botswana on 22-24 November 2023. The two-day Summit is expected to act as a catalyst for unlocking investment opportunities for Botswana which remains a relatively unexploited tourist region.

Over the last few years, Botswana has been actively shifting to another stage of its economic development. The country is strongly positioned in the heart of southern Africa as a gateway to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia – effectively a conduit for investors to do business with the rest of Southern Africa. A conducive environment will be rolled out to accelerate the impact of foreign investment and tourism within Botswana that has become the future engine of growth and is Africa’s longest surviving democracy since independence with a stable and prosperous economy.

Speaking ahead of the Summit, Hon. Philda Nani Kereng, Minister of Environment and Tourism of Botswana, said: “Botswana opens its doors to international sustainable investment opportunities that, till now, have been relatively untapped. Our mission is to provoke new thinking and explore new opportunities and financial mechanisms for sustainable investments in travel and tourism and business. We are honoured to host the Botswana Tourism Investment Summit organised by ITIC and with a landscape like no other, we strongly encourage policy makers and investors not to underestimate the potential of one of the most beautiful countries within Africa. Rated Africa’s best safari destination 2023, the Summit propels investments towards building Botswana as a destination of choice for business”.

The Botswana Tourism Investment Summit and Exhibition will host approximately 300-400 tourism and financial services CEOs and business elites who will deliver an unrivalled combination of thought-provoking content and extraordinary networking opportunities. This will bring together international leaders and project developers in the tourism, travel and hospitality sectors and connect them with investors from private equity firms, investment banks, institutional investors, fund managers and influencers, who have the power to channel capital and to raise funds to invest in sustainable tourism projects.

The Summit will see some of the best specialists explore the current trends and discuss the future of the tourism industry in Botswana. This was reiterated by IFC – International Finance Corporation’s acting Country Manager for Botswana, Indira Campos, who said, “Tourism is a key enabling sector in Botswana with high potential for growth and can help create jobs, reduce inequality, and contribute to diversifying the economy. IFC is committed to supporting efforts to further develop Botswana’s tourism sector by attracting private investment into lodges and other tourism-related infrastructure, including transport, hotels, camp and caravan sites, and food and hospitality services.”

IFC, a member of the World Bank, promotes private sector development in emerging markets, and its work in the tourism sector is a key part of that mission. IFC provides financing and advisory services to help businesses in this sector grow and create jobs, while also promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Furthermore, Dr. Taleb Rifai, Chairman of ITIC & former Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation said: “We are delighted that Botswana has been recognised for the vast investment potential available to potential stakeholders. The country’s financial and capital markets are among the most sophisticated in Africa, and our Summit provides the opportune platform to drive international awareness and further investment into Botswana and act as a catalyst for growth.

• Summit discussed the growing correlation between sustainability and investment in travel and tourism projects
• The session also shined a spotlight on the growing opportunities for women in the region’s tourism industry

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 4 May 2023: The ITIC Middle East Tourism Investment Session has presented their annual ATM Investment Summit meeting at ATM 2023. Exploring the economic outlook for regional tourism, the session also delved into the relationship between sustainability and investment in the sector as well as the growing opportunities for women in the Middle East, focusing on Oman as a case study.

Hosted by Gerald Lawless, Director ITIC Ltd, Invest Tourism Ltd and Ambassador WTTC, the summit opened with Nicolas Mayer, Global Tourism Leader PWC and Nicholas Maclean, Chairman and Managing Director CBRE Middle East. Sharing an optimistic view on the market Maclean said: “One of the key asset classes which is attracting special interest, particularly in the GCC is the opportunity for investors to capitalise on the hospitality industry. The profile of investors in the GCC is much more long term than in other markets around the world.”

Saudi Arabia is a particular growth area for the GCC region with the Kingdom recording 93.5 million tourists in 2022. Commenting on the investment situation in Saudi, Mayer said: “In Saudi Arabia there is an acceleration of not just hotels and rooms, but the creation of entire destinations which entails a number of different asset classes, be it in entertainment, human capacity building or experiences. The tourism industry is seen as a transformational sector when it comes to meeting sustainability goals and the sustainability aspect is now front and centre when it comes to investment in the Kingdom.”

The sustainability segment of the ITIC session was moderated by BBC Anchor Sameer Hashmi and the speakers for this session included: Amr El Kady, CEO, Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board; Dr. Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat, Managing Director of Jordan Tourism Board, H.E. Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism Jamaica, Raki Phillips, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority; Maher Abou Nasr, Vice President Operations, KSA, IHG; and Hamza Farooqui, Founder & CEO, Millat Investments.

In terms of the challenges that sustainability presents to the tourism industry, aligning green policies across the public and private sector was highlighted as a priority. Global cooperation across countries is also vital as industry players work towards a common sustainability goal.

The panel agreed that beyond policy, ‘people’ are the most important consideration when it comes to sustainability in tourism. Bartlett concluded: “Globally, tourism is the fastest recovering industry since the pandemic, but growth has to be in harmony with sustainability. It’s about building people – because tourism is about people. We want to make sure that the beneficiaries of tourism, are the drivers of tourism. Tourism is about the environment and without the environment there is no tourism, therefore the sector has to be the custodian of climate management.”

According to the UN World Trade Organisation (WTO), women make up 54% of the workforce in tourism globally and almost a quarter of tourism ministers are women. Discussing the opportunities for women in tourism, Elizabeth Maclean, Co-Managing Director, Herdwick Communications interviewed Dr. Lubna Bader Salim Al Mazroei, Manager Economic Diversification Investments, Oman Investment Authority during the ITIC session.

Tourism is one of the main industries in Oman which is helping to diversify the economy and create employment opportunities for the local population. As part of its efforts to boost the tourism industry in the region, the Oman government established the Oman Tourism College in 2001. When the facility first opened, there were approximately 80 female students and this number has risen to 400 in 2023. Women now work across several areas of the local tourism industry with roles in hotels, airlines, restaurants and tours.

Concluding the session, Al Mazroei said: “Tourism is a dynamic and multidisciplinary industry with exciting opportunities to pursue. The nature of the work in the sector gives you the opportunity for personal development, as well as to develop interpersonal and technical skills that will help you with your career growth – and to find your competitive edge.

“When the Ministry of Tourism was established in Oman in 2004, the first Minister of Tourism was a woman. Our target is to create 500,000 jobs in Oman tourism by 2040 and to further strengthen the Oman tourism sector, we are implementing new education, training and employment initiatives. We have a dedicated Human Capital department that is overseeing all of the needs of the sector and this department is managed mostly by women.”

The 30^th edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), will run from 1 – 4 May 2023 at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).

ATM 2023 is held in conjunction with Dubai World Trade Centre and its strategic partners include Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) as the Destination Partner, Emirates as the Official Airline Partner, IHG Hotels & Resorts as the Official Hotel Partner and Al Rais Travel as the Official DMC Partner.