Fiona Jeffery appointed Atta chair
Fiona Jeffery OBE has been appointed new chair of the African Travel & Tourism Association.
She succeeds Julian Edmunds.
Responsible for World Travel Market (WTM) from 1986-2013, both as managing director and ultimately as chairman, Jeffery has served on the Atta board for four years as industry relations director.
She also founded international water development charity Just a Drop, taking her to destinations across Africa undertaking projects to provide clean water and sanitation to remote communities.
She also created and launched World Responsible Tourism Day, a responsible tourism drive across the industry globally, in association with the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
In 2012, Fiona was awarded an OBE for services to travel and tourism.
"Being selected as the new chair of Atta is an unexpected honour I do not take lightly," she said.
"My predecessors have all done amazing jobs, and my role is to build on their success. With new opportunities emerging all the time, Atta will seek to embrace these, putting the interests of our membership at its heart.
"My love of Africa began on honeymoon with my husband Nigel, exploring Kenya by four-wheel drive vehicle, and I am keen to tackle the issues and opportunities of the industry across the continent. These include sustainability, the dangers of overtourism, wildlife conservation and wider issues around poaching, gender equality and the opportunities of tourism to support socio-economic empowerment and development. It will be important to play our part supporting and furthering the agenda in many of these areas to ensure joined up thinking and increased impact across our industry."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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