The Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, has expressed confidence in the youth of Namibia and Africa as a whole.

He emphasised the importance of leveraging the valuable insights gained from the just-ended Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge held over the weekend in order to capitalise on the abundant opportunities in the tourism industry.

Shifeta conveyed these thoughts during the closing ceremony of the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge in Swakopmund.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by Deputy Minister Heather Sibungo, he expressed satisfaction with the success of the summit and highlighted the multitude of benefits it brought to both the country and the youth of Africa.

He particularly encouraged young women in the tourism industry to fearlessly venture into traditionally male-dominated fields.

Shifeta stressed that gender should not limit their ambitions but rather urge them to be courageous, dedicated, and resilient in overcoming challenges and achieving success.

"To the African youth, I hope that you have learned a lot from the high-level dialogue presentations and quality discussions. The ball is now in your court to utilise the knowledge acquired to improve yourself and grow your business. As the saying goes, a nation without its youth's future is uncertain."

The Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge was introduced by the youth of Africa in 2019, initially taking place in Durban, South Africa.

The summit serves as a pan-African youth initiative aiming to support African youth and small enterprises, fostering the introduction of accelerator initiatives to seize opportunities within the rapidly growing travel and tourism ecosystem.

"They have been sharing with me that they have made business connections; some of them are saying the networking was great; some of them said it has given them a sense of direction in life, and to me, that is a very big statement for an event of this stage," said Kwakye Donkor, CEO of Africa Tourism Partners.

The event proved to be a valuable platform for the Namibian youth, providing them with exposure to employment opportunities within the tourism sector.

Windhoek is to host the 6th Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge in May next year.