Bridging the gap between airlines, hoteliers and tour operators is one of the issues that will be tackled at this year’s Hotel Investment Conference Africa (HICA), scheduled to take place ahead of the annual Tourism Indaba, at the Elangeni Hotel, in Durban from May 8-10.
The panel discussion, which takes place on Thursday May 9, will focus on what needs to be done to generate the required number of tourists to visit the region, and address issues such as seasonality, geographic spread and increasing the tourist’s average length of stay and spend. Panel speakers include: Michael Tollman, Chairman and CEO Cullinan Holdings; Manoj Papa, Acting GM Commercial Operations SAA; Ndabo Khoza, CEO KwaZulu Natal Tourism Authority; Carla da Silva, Regional Manager Southern African and Latin America Air Mauritius; and John Lee Resorts Director Sun International.
Straight talk from the top - The state of the regional and global hotel industry is another panel discussion that takes place on day two. Panel speakers include: Helder Pereira, CEO Redefine International; Arthur Gillis, Group MD Protea Hotels, Graham Wood, MD Tsogo Sun Hotels and Gabriel Matar, MD Jones Lang Lasalle.
The first breakaway session scheduled for May 9 will look at Market expansion into regional Africa - what you need to know. This discussion will be panelled by Andrew Mclachlan, Vice President Carlson Rezidor Group; Ewan Cameron, CEO Lonrho Hotels; Lasse Ristolainen Director Development Sub-Saharan Africa Hilton Worldwide and John Mwanza MD African Sun Hotels.
Other breakaway session topics scheduled for day two include: Achieving equity and diversity in the hotel sector, Spotlight on Mozambique’s thriving hospitality sector and Sustainable Tourism Certification - The how to series.
For more information, download the programme and/or to register, visit www.hica.co.za.
