Women In Tourism Botswana (WIT) in collaboration with Hilton Garden Inn Gaborone, will this Saturday, March 27th host the first annual tourism stakeholder roundtable discussion on the advancement of women in the hospitality sector.
The occurrence will feature women of the statue across the tourism and hospitality sector, as well other well-wishers of the industry respectively.
WIT President, Bokani Mathape, said that they found it fit to celebrate women’s advancement in the tourism and hospitality sector particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic when the sector is facing unprecedented challenges, thus the need to sit and network among the industry players.
“The event aims to challenge key players in the tourism and hospitality sector to promote women empowerment, as well as to encourage women to upskill themselves in order to compete in the male-dominated sector. As a woman-led organization, WIT saw it fit to create such a platform to allow for women to come together and address the challenges that are holding women back from advancement and promotions, as well as to find possible solutions to gender inequality in the sector. With covid-19 heavily hit the sector, WIT saw the benefit to address them in a confined space to learn from each other too,” said Mathape.
For her part the host, Hilton Garden Inn Gaborone’s General Manager, Thabani Ndlovu said as Hilton Gardens Inn, they commemorate Women’s month annually with the goals of the company, promote professional growth through networking and mentoring, providing leadership development opportunities.
“The purpose of this partnership is to provide a platform for key players in the tourism and hospitality sector to promote women empowerment, as well as to encourage women to up-skill themselves in order to compete in the male dominated sector,” she said.
Hilton Garden Inn Gaborone is proud to have 80 percent of management as women. Equally advanced in the sector, Ndlovu is listed as among the top 100women in tourism in Africa by Africa Travel Quarterly (ATQ).
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “Choose to Challenge,” WIT, therefore, challenge the tourism and the business community as a whole to choose the advancement of women and choose to be organizations that advocate for equality and Consequently, WIT aims to see women at the forefront of the tourism and hospitality industry, advancing from holding ordinary positions to becoming key stakeholders and owning establishments.
The roundtable is their testament to recognizing and commemorating International Women’s Day.
Among the speakers for the round table discussions will be the Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism Philda Kereng, BTO Marketing Manager Keitumetse Setlang, HATAB CEO Lily Rakorong, Grand Palm Hotel Operations Manager Keletso Bogatsu, and academic Nametsegang Motshegwa.
The event is supported by Botswana Tourism Organisation, The Voice Newspaper, Echo Newspaper, King On Media and Sunset Bird Travel.
