ʻIke ke Kuhina Hoʻokele ʻApelika Hema i nā kulekele i ʻike ʻia

Derek Hanekom, the Minister of Tourism of South Africa is seeing his policies being recognized beyond the African borders. The recent invitation for Sisa Ntshona, the CEO of SA Tourism to join the World Tourism Organization’s Advisory Board of its UNWTO.QUEST program showed the respect for South Africa in world tourism as a serious and important player.

CEO of SA Tourism, Sisa Ntshona, has accepted an invitation by the World Tourism Organization to join the Advisory Board of its UNWTO.QUEST program – a certification system for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs).

The program has been designed by UNWTO to promote excellence of DMOs in governance, planning and management, and is a strategic tool to enhance the internal capacities and management processes through capacity-building and training, allowing them to contribute to the competitiveness and sustainability of the destinations.

UNWTO.QUEST will support DMOs in strengthening the three key performance areas in destination management: strategic leadership, effective execution and efficient governance.

The invitation to Ntshona read: “In light of the foregoing and considering your remarkable knowledge and experience in this field, we would be very pleased to have you as a member of the UNWTO.QUEST Advisory Board,” and was accepted by the CEO.

Board members will be responsible for revising the audit reports drafted by the experts assigned by UNWTO Academy at specific stages of the process and validate the results to ensure the highest technical standards, efficiency and transparency through the process.

“This invitation is testament to the work that SA Tourism is doing, and the profile it has built – where it is now getting global recognition. It is a proud moment where an African DMO gets on to a global platform that forms policy and assessment,” said Ntshona.

The Board’s mandate will expire on December 31, 2019, with the possibility of renewal.