08:40 - 18:40 | 05/06/24 | Travel | BANJUL
The WAEN 2024 event holds four key objectives. First, the annual WAEN Regional Forum brings together ecotourism stakeholders from West Africa to share experiences and network, creating a cohesive ecotourism industry across the region. Secondly, the 2024 event centers around developing a set of “Ecotourism 101 Masterclasses”. Ecotourism development is still in its nascent stages in West Africa, and capacity building is critical to developing an operational and sustainable sector. The event will host masterclasses around the topics of ecotorism good for the operation and practice accommodation providers, community-based tourism, and conservation, as well as deep dives into consumer demand trends, gender inclusivity, and circular economy in tourism.
The third objective of the event is to disseminate knowledge from the World Bank’s PROBLUE tourism project in three West African countries. This includes consumer market research on demand from European countries, gender assessments of the tourism sector, and the results of recent circular economy audits.
Finally, WAEN’s 2024 event aims to create market connectivity opportunities for local products and services. WAEN will introduce West Africa Tourism Organisation’s (WATO’s) new Explore West Africa product, which will assist in connecting tourism operators with key markets, as well as launching the Environmental Management System (EMS) Training.
The two-days hybrid event will include:
This event will be conducted in person and online. It will also be streamed live on social media platforms and will include presentations, case studies, Q&A and masterclass sessions. The speakers will be experts in the field of ecotourism and sustainable tourism development.
The target audience for this event includes tourism professionals, government officials, NGOs, academics, and anyone interested in sustainable tourism development in West Africa. Media will be invited to the event to report in the three official languages of the region: English, French and Portuguese.
By the end of the event, participants will have a better understanding of ecotourism, and what it takes to sustainably manage an ecotourism operation. They will increase their networks and gain insights into successful ecotourism projects in West African countries; best practices for ecotourism operations; market demand characteristics from key European markets; and ways to incorporate circular economy practices into tourism operations.
Finally, participants will understand the tools available to them to connect with key ecotourism markets.This conference will help to raise awareness and understanding of ecotourism as a sustainable tourism development strategy in West Africa. It will serve as a forum for stakeholders to share ideas and experiences, paving the path for the development of more ecotourism projects in the region.
Location: THE GAMBIA
Town: BANJUL
Venue: Hybrid
Category: Travel
Date: 08:40 - 18:40 05/06/24
The activity benefited from support from the Umbrella Facility for Trade trust fund financed by the governments of the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.