Over the years, The Cooperative University of Kenya’s Department of Tourism and Hospitality has developed a favourable learning environment for qualified tourism and hospitality professionals. Tourism and Hospitality students have undergone a rigorous curriculum designed to give them the most professional skills possible through industrial exposure and affiliation to compete in the job market. Tourism and Hospitality students through the department have taken part in a number of successful stakeholder forums and seminars throughout the years across the region.
On 29th October, The Cooperative University of Kenya hosted the Interuniversity Sustainable Tourism and Travel Agenda (STTA) stakeholder’s forum, which featured a sustainable tourism seminar across 7 participating universities and 5 governmental and private tourism organizations topic of Tourism and Resilience in Africa’s Protected Areas. In attendance organizations for the forum were;
The Cooperative University Tourism & Hospitality – Host
Sustainable Travel and Tourism Agenda STTA – Lead Organization
Organizations
Global Tourism Resilient and Crisis Management Centre East Africa
Kenya Wildlife Service
Giraffe Centre
Let’s Go Travel Uniglobe
Universities
Kenyatta University
The Technical University of Kenya
Muranga University of Technology
Machakos University
Zetech University
Amboseli Institute
In this instance, tourism resilience refers to the ability of various systems to handle pressures by preserving the stability of the regional economy’s tourist-related sectors while ensuring the flexibility and diversity required for innovation and continued development. Among the many advantages of tourism, resilience is increased sustainable tourism development through wildlife conservation in protected areas, tax revenue collection, job possibilities, and awareness of the nation’s natural heritage.
The theme of Tourism Resilience in Protected Areas led to reviewing the positive impact of having professional knowledge in promoting conservation in destinations and understanding the role of institutions, universities, and companies in creating conservation awareness. Moreover, the stakeholders were able to see the need to develop new mechanisms to mitigate climate change effects and promote sustainable tourism in protected areas, particularly on climate change effects and how to find solutions for tourism resilience. Therefore, if we want to save the tourism industry, sustainability is a practice that must be implemented.