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West Africa Ecotourism Network Annual Regional Summit 2024
May 6 - May 8
The WAEN 2024 event holds four key objectives. First, the annual WAEN Regional Forum brings together ecotourism stakeholders from West Africa to share experiences and network, creating a cohesive ecotourism industry across the region. Secondly, the 2024 event centers around developing a set of “Ecotourism 101 Masterclasses”. Ecotourism development is still in its nascent stages in West Africa, and capacity building is critical to developing an operational and sustainable sector. The event will host masterclasses around the topics of ecotorism good for the operation and practice accommodation providers, community-based tourism, and conservation, as well as deep dives into consumer demand trends, gender inclusivity, and circular economy in tourism.
The third objective of the event is to disseminate knowledge from the World Bank’s PROBLUE tourism project in three West African countries. This includes consumer market research on demand from European countries, gender assessments of the tourism sector, and the results of recent circular economy audits.
Finally, WAEN’s 2024 event aims to create market connectivity opportunities for local products and services. WAEN will introduce West Africa Tourism Organisation’s (WATO’s) new Explore West Africa product, which will assist in connecting tourism operators with key markets.