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DEREK HANEKOM

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“I can now become a tourist myself!” — In the chair with Derek Hanekom

Harold Goodwin
June 24, 2020
1 min read

South Africa’s former Minister of Tourism talks responsible tourism and transformation, reflecting on our industry amidst COVID-19.

We recently had the opportunity to catch up with Derek Hanekom, South Africa’s former Minister of Tourism who is also one of the longest-serving members of the cabinet: Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs (1994-1999), and Minister of Science and Technology (2004-2014).

Although no longer in government, and now officially considering himself “semi-retired”, Hanekom continues to work as an appointed Investment Envoy for tourism and remains an important advocate for our industry.

In this interview, he reflects on his time within the sector and how he discovered his absolute passion for travel. The discussions also touch on the importance of responsible tourism, the effects of COVID-19 and how far South Africa has come as a country.

WORLD RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AWARDS

This year’s World Responsible Tourism Awards have been adapted to recognise businesses, individuals, destinations and organisations which have taken responsibility to address the challenge of COVID-19. Find out more about the Awards and nominate online by the end of July.

Only those nominated can be recognised by the judges, you can nominate yourself and others, and you can nominate as many as you wish

Harold Goodwin

Harold Goodwin is WTM’s Responsible Tourism Advisor, he puts together the flagship Responsible Tourism programme at WTM London which attracts 2000 participants each year and the programmes run at WTM Africa, WTM Latin America and Arabian Travel Market. Harold has worked on 4 continents with local communities, their governments and the inbound and outbound tourism industry. He is Managing Director of the Responsible Tourism Partnership and chairs the panels of judges for the World Responsible Tourism Awards and the other Awards in the family, Africa, India and Ireland. Harold works with industry, local communities, governments, and conservationists and undertakes consultancy and evaluations for companies, NGOs, governments, and international organisations. He is also a Director of the Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he is an Emeritus Professor, and Founder Director of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism promotes the principles of the Cape Town Declaration which he drafted.

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