With tourism being one of the main drivers for the local economy, the World Travel Market Africa conference taking in place in Cape Town from 15-17 April, will some key concerns and areas of focus to the fore.

According to the conference organisers Thebe Reed Exhibitions, the WTM Africa conference is designed to offer all visitors the best insight into the industry and focus on the exciting future prospects for this emerging region.” One such insight is the important role that responsible tourism practices will play in fostering greater international relations. This idea will be explored in the event's Responsible Tourism Programme by Professor Harold Goodwin, and a panel of international speakers.

Also on the schedule are two sessions exploring the role that travel bloggers can play within the country's greater tourism awareness efforts, hosted by iambassador and Traveldudes. The pair will too, focus on best practices for the tourism industry and provide an insight into the industry itself from the blogger's perspective. Finally worth noting on the conference agenda is WTM Vision, which will uncover the region-specific trends, and how local tourism agencies can best leverage them.

The inaugural WTM Africa event was held last year, and heralded as a huge success by Thebe Reed. Managing director Carol Weaving noted that "The response we have received from exhibitors for our second year has just been tremendous and we are still signing up new exhibitors as we speak.” At this year's conference, there will be over 400 companies from 60 different countries exhibiting their products from across the globe.

For more info on the WTM Africa conference in Cape Town, click here.