Tourism & Travel Trends

Adrian Roodt is Country Manager, Southern Africa, Travelport..

Anand Yedery is Regional Head of Marketing and Sales, South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA) for Cathay Pacific..

Andrew Stark is the managing director: MEA for Flight Centre Travel Group..

Daniel Levy is a co-founder of Flow, a proptech company which is revolutionising how people rent and live..

David Frost is CEO of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association - SATSA..

Derek Martin is the Founder and CEO of TrevPAR World and is a Total Revenue Specialist with over 10 years of hospitality experience across brands such as Pan Pacific Hotel Group, Carlson Rezidor, Leading Hotels of the World as well as IHG..

Guy Stehlik is the CEO and founder of BON Hotels and Director of BON Hotels International West Africa. Having vast experience in all aspects of Hotel Management as well as having owned his own hotels, Guy created BON Hotels as an "owner-staff-community-guest" centric company to herald in and define an exciting new era in hotel management..

With a curious mind and a love for travel and tourism, Jenna Berndt has over nine years' marketing experience in the travel industry. She is currently a brand owner for leisure travel brands at Big Ambitions, a specialist Cape Town-based travel content marketing consultancy.

Jenna has a journalism degree specialising in graphic design, a keen eye for visual and written communication and is focused on achieving brand goals through content creation and PR, marketing strategy, SEO copywriting and social media..

Kerry Hayes is the Editor of Tourism Update, a tourism news publication reporting on tourism-related news across southern and East Africa. She has worked in the publishing industry for over a decade, with editorial experience in the décor and design, food and wine, motoring, marketing and social media, and travel and tourism industries.

Mariette du Toit-Helmbold is an international destination marketing and tourism thought leader, as well as a writer and public speaker on tourism, responsible tourism, destination marketing, brand innovation and digital strategy. She established Destinate, an international specialised destination and tourism marketing agency, after an enviable tenure of 10 years as the CEO of Cape Town Tourism..

Martin Jansen van Vuuren is co-founder and director of I and M Futureneer Advisors Pty Ltd. He is a number cruncher, provider of market intelligence, strategist, economist, futureneer and advisor..

Muhammad Ali Albakri is IATA's Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East based in Amman, Jordan since January 2017. As of 2021, Albakri is the Senior Vice President for Customer, Financial and Digital Services (CFDS) and will be based in Geneva Switzerland..

Natalia Rosa is the director of Big Ambitions, a specialist Cape Town-based travel content marketing consultancy. Rosa is a passionate follower of online marketing, social media, retail travel, inbound tourism and publishing..

Natalie Tenzer-Silva was born in South Africa and moved to Mozambique in the early 90s where she learned Portuguese. Natalie has worked in the tourism industry since 1994, first managing a large travel agency and then becoming Mozambique's largest inbound tour operator..

Odette Faling is the CEO of South Africa's newest online travel agency, Travelcheck.co.za. After 12 years in ecommerce she has gained deep knowledge in developing partnerships and marketing strategies to help companies grow..

Olivier Hannaert is the MD of Club Med Southern Africa..

With a proven track record in business management and finance, Oz Desai heads up Flight Centre Travel Group's dynamic Corporate Traveller brand in South Africa. Having worked in a retail travel, management and finance environment within the Flight Centre group, Desai's first-hand experience brings great depth to the role of positioning Corporate Traveller as the preferred provider of travel solutions to corporate South Africa..

Based in Dubai, Ramsay leads Radisson Hotel Group's strategic growth across the Turkey and Africa with a team based in Dubai and Cape Town. He recently expanded his role as the Head of Development for Africa, further demonstrating the commitment of the company across the continent..

Rico Basson has been the managing director of Vinpro - the representative organisation for more than 2,500 South African wine grape producers, cellars and wine-related businesses - since 2012. This, following a career in the commercial banking industry, with a specific focus on agriculture and wine..

Sharmila Ragunanan is a hospitality expert and group marketing manager for Dream Hotels & Resorts.