Retosa to host second annual southern Africa women in tourism conference |09 October 2015

Retosa will be holding its second annual Southern Africa Women in Tourism Conference under the theme ‘Creating opportunities for inclusive development and social transformation’ in Malawi from November 23-24.

The main objective of this conference will be to give a progress report on prioritised programmes and projects, discuss the establishment of a Regional Tourism Investment Fund for Women and most importantly the conference will include an interactive Master Class Course in Tourism Business Management for all delegates taking part.

The Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa (Retosa) as the tourism implementing agency of the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) is helping and promoting tourism growth and development in southern Africa by targeting women as a critical component in the sustainable development of tourism in the region.

Retosa believes that if tourism is to effectively contribute in alleviating poverty and create wealth, it is important that targeted interventionist measures are applied with women in mind.

The reasoning behind Retosa’s founding of the Southern Africa Women in Tourism programme is to institute a forum that offers women from the Sadc region access to business skills, trainings, financial services, networking and self-confidence as they enable themselves.

The conference is set to take place at the President Walmont Hotel (Umodzi Park) in Lilongwe, Malawi. The line-up of speakers from the region include heads from the tourism ministries of Retosa member states, United Nations women representative Auxilia Ponga, director of the business development agency in South Africa, Pearl Maphumulo, directors of Traveller’s Eye in Tanzania, Vanessa and Yvonne Baldwin, and deputy chief executive of New Finance Bank in Malawi, Gilford Kadzakumanja.

Retosa encourages all women entrepreneurs in the southern African tourism industry to attend and be part of this landmark conference.

The Retosa member states are Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.