ATTA - African Travel & Tourism Association

ATTA - African Travel & Tourism Association The African Travel and Tourism Association (ATTA) is a member driven trade association that promotes a better tourism for Africa from all corners of the world.

ATTA® (The African Travel and Tourism Association) is the leading pan-African trade association promoting tourism to Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. Known as the "Voice of African Tourism," ATTA® serves over 720 member businesses, including accommodation providers, tour operators, and travel specialists. It provides accurate industry news, hosts networking events and trade shows, and delivers valuable member training and resources.

UK demand for travel to Africa is building strongly ahead of 2027. 📈🌍 Revenue from Africa bookings has increased by 23% ...
05/10/2026

UK demand for travel to Africa is building strongly ahead of 2027. 📈🌍 Revenue from Africa bookings has increased by 23% year on year, according to the latest trading update from Advantage Travel Partnership - the UK’s largest network of independently owned travel businesses.

Egypt has recorded particularly strong growth, with revenue up 53%, while touring holidays have also continued to gain momentum:

- Touring revenue increased by 22%
- Average touring booking values rose by 8%
- South Africa and Kenya rank among the most popular long-haul touring destinations

The figures point to growing demand from UK travellers for holidays centred around wildlife, culture and exploration and a valuable opportunity for African destinations and tourism businesses to turn that interest into bookings.

Read more: https://atta.travel/resource/africa-bookings-surge-23-for-2027-says-advantage-travel-partnership.html

An update from ATTA®: We’re bringing our membership and events operations together under one ATTA® brand and not-for-pro...
05/10/2026

An update from ATTA®: We’re bringing our membership and events operations together under one ATTA® brand and not-for-profit organisation.

For our members, this means a closer connection between being part of ATTA® and the opportunities to meet buyers, build relationships and grow their businesses through our events.

Virginia Messina continues as CEO, with Chris Mears now leading Membership and Events as Chief Commercial Officer. We’re also recruiting a Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer.

Virginia said: “Bringing our membership and events operations together under one ATTA® brand gives us a simpler, stronger structure from which to deliver our ambitions for the association and, most importantly, greater value for our members.”

Alongside this, we’re introducing a new five-tier membership model to offer more tailored support to members across Africa and our international community.

Read more: https://atta.travel/resource/atta-unveils-new-leadership-structure-as-it-brings-membership-and-events-under-one-brand.html

Congratulations to Chris Mears, who has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer at ATTA®! 👏Many of you will have met Chr...
05/10/2026

Congratulations to Chris Mears, who has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer at ATTA®! 👏

Many of you will have met Chris at our events. He’s been with ATTA® for nine years and, as CEO of ATTA® Group Events, has helped bring African tourism businesses and international buyers together.

Now, he’ll lead both Membership and Events, helping our members build relationships, reach new markets and grow their businesses.

With more than 25 years’ experience in African tourism and B2B events, Chris has built strong relationships across the industry. Here’s what he wants to achieve:

“ATTA has a unique place in the industry. We bring the people who sell Africa together with the people who make it happen. My focus is simple: make every membership, every event and every partnership deliver real, measurable business for the people who invest in us. I'm proud to take on this role and excited about what we'll build together.”

Please join us in congratulating Chris on his new role! 👏

Happy World Animal Day! 🐘 What would a wildlife encounter look like through the animal’s eyes?For many travellers, seein...
05/10/2026

Happy World Animal Day! 🐘 What would a wildlife encounter look like through the animal’s eyes?

For many travellers, seeing an elephant, a gorilla or a whale in the wild is a moment they’ll never forget. But while it may be a once in a lifetime experience for us, it’s part of everyday life for the animal.

This year’s theme, See the World Through Their Eyes, is a reminder that the travel trade helps shape these encounters. The experiences we offer, the guides we work with and the expectations we set all matter.

Sometimes the best encounter means staying back, waiting longer or letting an animal move on. Today, we’re celebrating the people across African tourism who make room for wildlife to be wild.

🔗 Explore ATTA®’s Too Close for Comfort report on responsible wildlife tourism: https://atta.travel/resource/atta-launches-too-close-for-comfort-report-aiming-at-responsible-wildlife-tourism-in-africa.html

A big congratulations to ATTA® member ATI Holidays on its B Corp recertification! 👏🇳🇦 For the Namibia-based team, this h...
02/10/2026

A big congratulations to ATTA® member ATI Holidays on its B Corp recertification! 👏🇳🇦

For the Namibia-based team, this has meant months of reviewing their day-to-day work, gathering evidence and looking closely at how their commitments show up in practice - from the way they run the business to how they work with people and places across Southern Africa.

Congratulations to everyone at ATI on this milestone. We’re delighted to celebrate it with you! 🙌

Read their update: https://atta.travel/resource/ati-meets-all-new-b-corp-certification-standards.html

Durban is getting a new daily gateway to the world. From 11th December 2026, Ethiopian Airlines will launch a daily non-...
02/10/2026

Durban is getting a new daily gateway to the world. From 11th December 2026, Ethiopian Airlines will launch a daily non-stop service between Durban and Addis Ababa.

Through one of Africa’s major aviation hubs, travellers will be able to connect onwards to destinations across Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America.

For KwaZulu-Natal, the new route means more than an additional flight. It creates new opportunities for tourism, trade, airfreight and investment – while making the province more accessible to travellers from around the world.

📍 Durban ↔ Addis Ababa
📅 Launching 11 December 2026
✈️ Daily and non-stop

Read more: https://atta.travel/resource/ethiopian-airlines-to-launch-daily-durban-addis-ababa-service-from-december.html

A warm welcome to Taqi Moledina, our new Chair of ATTA®. Beginning his two-year term today, 1st October, Taqi brings nea...
01/10/2026

A warm welcome to Taqi Moledina, our new Chair of ATTA®.

Beginning his two-year term today, 1st October, Taqi brings nearly 25 years of African tourism experience and family roots in East Africa stretching back more than a century.

He’ll work alongside CEO Virginia Messina, our Board and team to build more connections and opportunities for our members, supporting the sustainable growth of African tourism.

In Taqi’s words: “Africa’s strength lies in its extraordinary diversity. From its cultures and communities to its wildlife, landscapes and hospitality, there is no single African travel experience.”

A heartfelt thank you, too, to outgoing Chair James Haigh for his leadership, dedication and everything he has contributed to the ATTA® community.

Please join us in welcoming Taqi. We’re looking forward to this next chapter together. 🙌

30/09/2026

What if AI could give you more time to focus on the parts of your tourism business that only you can do? At Experience Africa, Martin Kays from The Jao Reserve joined our panel discussion, ‘Still Human: African Tourism Brands in the Age of AI' and shared how his team has been putting exactly that into practice.

The Jao Reserve has 27 years of operational experience. That means decades of knowledge of their product, their guests and the experience on the ground. Their time and expertise are spent *doing* tourism - guiding, looking after guests, building relationships and delivering the experiences that have made the business what it is.

Sales and marketing, however, require another whole set of resources, skills and time. And that’s where they’ve found AI incredibly useful.

They have used it to help turn the knowledge already within the business into practical sales and marketing tools - from website content to fact sheets and rate sheets - freeing up more time for the team to focus on what they do best.

And importantly, the knowledge still comes from them. Over time, they’ve taught the technology how Jao looks and speaks - and how it doesn't speak - giving it the real experiences, knowledge and guidelines it needs to produce something that feels like their business.

It’s a great example of what AI can look like in practice for African tourism: not replacing the people, knowledge or authenticity at the heart of a business, but helping them make more of it.

🎥 Watch Martin explain how Jao Reserve is putting AI to work...

30/09/2026

You might be underestimating how much AI can help you do yourself.

For Rob Llewellyn of Story9, one of the most exciting things about AI is what he calls the “democratisation of technology” - putting capabilities that once required specialist skills and serious budgets into all of our hands.

Speaking during our AI discussion at Experience Africa, Rob gave a great example: something that historically might have required four developers and a £30,000 budget can now potentially be done yourself, on a computer, in a fraction of the time. And that creates a real opportunity for tourism businesses.

Rob’s own team wasn't using AI 18 months ago. Today, they’re using it to free up time and speed up processes and he argues that tour operators, lodges and business owners can increasingly use these tools to do more themselves too.

For an industry full of curious minds, his advice is to use that curiosity. Experiment. See what’s possible and where AI could remove some of the time, cost or complexity from your own business. 👌

🎥 Watch Rob’s take from Experience Africa....

Four African destinations have made Lonely Planet ’s 50 Best Places to Go in 2027! We could make a strong case for Afric...
30/09/2026

Four African destinations have made Lonely Planet ’s 50 Best Places to Go in 2027! We could make a strong case for Africa filling all 50 places, but we’re delighted to see these four recognised:

1. Tsavo East & West, Kenya, for their enormous elephant herds, lava plains and wide, quiet horizons.

2. São Tomé & Príncipe, one of Africa’s least-visited island nations, where forested landscapes meet deserted beaches. As Lonely Planet puts it, “it’s easy to see why so many who visit never want to leave.”

3. Rabat, Morocco, where historic sites and traditional riads sit alongside a lively coastal culture - including sunset surf.

4. Gombe National Park, Tanzania, where visitors can encounter the descendants of the chimpanzees Jane Goodall began studying in 1960.

Thank you, Lonely Planet, for shining a light on these remarkable places. Which African destination would you add to the list?

See the full list here: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/best-in-travel

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