Africa’s Travel Indaba 2025 opened its BONDay programme with a powerful call for unity and leadership on the global tourism stage. The plenary session, Africa’s Voice at the G20 – A Continental Collaboration for Future Tourism Opportunities’, set an assertive tone as thought leaders urged the continent to speak as one to shape international tourism policy.
As reported by South African Tourism, the session—held on the sidelines of the second G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Durban—highlighted the continent’s potential to influence global frameworks through strategic collaboration, policy alignment, and narrative control.
“We don’t just want a seat at the table. We want to help design the offering,” said trade and investment lawyer Lethabo Sithole, who underscored the critical role of tourism in Africa’s economic engine. “Tourism already supports over 24 million jobs on the continent. It’s time our voice helps shape the rules, especially around the movement of people, visa policies and trade in services.”
Sithole also called attention to the prohibitive cost of intra-African travel, noting, “It’s cheaper to attend an event in Europe than it is on the continent. That’s not sustainable.”
The conversation focused on four tourism priorities identified under South Africa’s G20 leadership: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and innovation, tourism financing, air connectivity, and resilience. Entrepreneur and economist Zimasa Vabaza championed AI as a transformative tool for small businesses. “AI is levelling the playing field… But more importantly, we must talk about narrative ownership. Unspoken positivity is a lost opportunity.”
Echoing this sentiment, Jacqui Mabuza, Head of Commercial at Cruises International, emphasized the power of self-advocacy: “We are more than just one city. AI and tech have made discovery seamless, but our voices are still the most authentic marketing tool we have.”
The call for unity extended beyond tourism into cross-sector collaboration. “We cannot build sustainable tourism in isolation,” said Dr. Vumi Msweli, entrepreneur and philanthropist. “Unity is not a cliché, it’s a strategy… We must begin marketing our diversity as a strength: francophone, lusophone, anglophone—this is what makes Africa remarkable.”
The session, moderated by broadcaster Carol Ofori, framed Africa’s G20 participation as a historic milestone—especially as South Africa prepares to host the G20 Tourism Ministers’ Meeting in Mpumalanga in September and the Heads of State Summit in November.
With Africa’s Travel Indaba as its platform and the G20 as its stage, the continent is not only amplifying its voice but asserting its right to shape a fairer, more inclusive global tourism agenda—one driven by solidarity, equality, and sustainability.
