10 Degrees South: World Tourism Secretary General opens Tourism Expo 2020
The Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Zurab Pololikashvili, on his first official 3-day visit to help strengthen Namibia’s tourism revival strategy, launched the country’s biggest tourism expo in Windhoek.
Pololikashvili applauded Namibia for being the first country in the world to hold the tourism expo amid the Covid-19 pandemic and for being one of the few countries in the world to open up for international tourist arrivals.
During the occasion, he also launched a Covid-19 Tourism Safety Protocols and Guidelines Toolkit to ensure adverse of Covid-19 prevention measures by Namibia’s tourism industry.
During his stay, Pololikashvili visited the UNESCO World Heritage site at Sossusvlei desert called Namib Sand Sea, which is the only coastal desert in the world that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog.
Thereafter, he flew to one of Namibia’s main tourist attractions, Swakopmund where he launched Namibia’s Gastronomy booklet, a project that the United Nations World Tourism Organisation has been working on with Namibia to promote African Gastronomy to the world. He also paid a visit to the Ramsar Wetland site at the Walvis Bay lagoon where he expressed fascination over Namibia’s progress on biodiversity.
He paid a courtesy visit to the Vice President, Nangolo Mbumba and confirmed the hosting of ‘Brand Africa Conference’ in Namibia IN 2021. He also shared planned efforts to support tourism conservation initiatives for developing rural tourism. Brand Africa is an intergenerational movement to inspire a great Africa through promoting a positive image of Africa, celebrating its diversity and driving its competitiveness.
Pololikashvili said he convinced that Namibia’s tourism industry is in good hands which has made it strong as he was surprised by the high quality of the industry in terms of organization and accommodation establishments.
The Namibia Tourism Expo runs from 4 to 7 November 2020 at the Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW).
Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Zurab Pololikashvili paying a courtesy visit to Vice President, Nangolo Mbumba at State House.
