About the SummitWhat is THTES?About

Dates: The third edition of the summit is scheduled for April 7th-9th, 2025.

Location: The event will be held at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, Zambia.

Theme: The theme for the 2025 summit is “Understanding the knowledge and skills gaps in Africa’s Trade in Services Industry: Empowering Africa’s workforce in the AfCFTA era”.

Expected Participants: The summit expects participation from UN Tourism Member States, and the United Nations Tourism Secretary General, H.E Mr. Zurab Pololikashivili is expected to attend.

The summit’s objectives include:

• Re-introducing the UN Tourism Education Guidelines as a foundation for building human capacity in Africa’s tourism sector.
• Understanding the human capacity needed to grow tourism services within Africa.
• Creating a platform for educators, employers, and policymakers to collaborate on human resource development.
• Reducing the gap between educators and the tourism industry in Africa.
• Promoting dialogue on job creation within the tourism sector.
• Defining learning and career paths in the industry.
• Analyzing innovative learning and teaching methods.
• Encouraging collaboration among educators.
• Positioning education as a critical component of tourism development.

The summit anticipates the following outcomes:

• Increased understanding of the UN Tourism Education Guidelines.
• Repositioning the role of education in tourism development in Africa.
• Increased understanding of intra-Africa skills development for services under the AfCFTA.
• Establishment of student and faculty exchange programs.
• Increased understanding of available learning and career paths in tourism.
• Establishment of an annual activity that will provide a public recruitment portal.
• Increased participation of employers in addressing human resource development.
• Increased research specific to tourism in African academic institutions.
• Development of partnerships between learning institutions and employers.