Three foreign Ministers will be in attendance at this year’s Port Harcourt
Bantaba. They are Timothy McPherson, finance minister of Acompong,
Jamaica, Walter Mzembi, tourism minister for Zimbabwe and Alain St.Ange, tourism minister for Seychelles.
This year’s edition of Bantaba is unique, we gathered, as the exhibition would be returning after two years absence but with a shift from its traditional Abuja location to the Garden City of Port Harcourt.
The event will hold at De Edge Hotel Resort, Port Harcourt on 16th – 17th March, 2017. While Syechelles and Acompong will be making a maiden apprearance at the event, same cannot be said about Zimbabwe as they were well represented by the Deputy Minister of Tourism and 
Hospitality Industry of Zimbabwe, Annastacia Ndlouv at last year’s
12th Akwaaba Travel Market, held in Lagos.
In Zimbabwe, tourism is recognized in successive economic blue prints
as an economic pillar and it is under the Value Addition and
Beneficiation Cluster of ZIMASSET.
Leading globally rated experts who would be speaking this year include Mr. Damian Cook from East Africa, an expert on e-tourism, Training will cover topics; eTourism in Theory and Practice, eMarketing Strategy, Web Design, Content and Management, Analytics and Conversion Optimisation, Search Engine Marketing, Relationship Marketing, The Generation Gap- Encouraging User Generated Content;Trip advisor, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Managing Multimedia, Mobile and Location Based Services. Some of the past speakers are Mr. Femi Adefope, former Chairman, HRG and former President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies, Mr. Harold Demuren, former DG, NCAA.
Bantaba is a travel and tourism speed dating event that was first held on Abuja in 2011. And it was a success story. It was an opportunity for stakeholders in the industry to come together to discuss some of the salient issues affecting the sector and the way forward. With the Akwaaba annual travel fair, the foremost West African travel fair holding in Lagos, ACCRA Weizo in Ghana, the Bantaba speed dating will offer a platform for travel trade networking in the South-South and South-East region of the country this year.
-Arthur Richard
