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Acting Business Editor
THE Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa (Retosa) has announced that Namibia’s 15-year-old Taloshili Olavi Hangula has been elected the region’s Junior Tourism Minister while his Botswana counterpart, Tsholofelo Tsheto,12, came in as deputy.Retosa, a body to which Zimbabwe is signatory is responsible for promoting growth and development of tourism in Southern Africa.
The organisation’s member states are Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“It was indeed survival of the fittest in the essay competition and winning the title for the reigning junior tourism ministers did not come on a silver platter.
“Six out of numerous essays that were submitted regionally qualified for the finals. Taloshili Olavi Hangula, 15, of Namibia won the hearts of the judges and was elected Southern Africa Junior Tourism Minister while Tsholofelo Tsheto, 12, of Botswana is the Deputy Minister,” said the regional tourism body.
The term of office for the Junior Tourism Ministers will run for a year. Retosa said this was a big chance for them to participate and input into the regional agenda on tourism development in Southern Africa paying special attention on how the youth could play a meaningful role in the region.
“Their duty is mainly to reach out and motivate every school child in Southern Africa, aged between seven and 17 to join the Youth in Tourism band wagon.
“The engagement will be done through existing social media platforms that have already been established by Retosa, such as Facebook and Twitter.”
In addition, the Junior Tourism Ministers would be able to communicate directly with their peers through a blog that will be managed by the regional tourism body.
It is hoped that through such networks, it will enable open interactions and debates on sustainable tourism. The Junior Tourism Minister is expected to develop a forum as well as interact with students at secondary school level while the deputy concentrates on learners at primary level.
A number of programmes have been lined up for this year including the second edition of Youth in Tourism Essay Competition 2014, Youth in Tourism Arts Festival and Conference, edutainment events.
In line with regional events, the Junior Tourism Ministers will participate in the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s first regional meeting scheduled for May 7 to 9 in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, Tourism Indaba which is held annually in South Africa, and many others.
During such events, the Junior Tourism Minister and his deputy will be given an opportunity to present on the involvement of youth in sustainable tourism and any other issues relating to the youth in the industry.
The youth in tourism project is an ongoing programme spearheaded by Retosa after realising that the youth were a critical component in the sustainable development of tourism in Southern Africa.
Online Reporter