Africa Travel Association (ATA) announced that Zambia and Zimbabwe will co-sponsor the seventh annual ATA Presidential Forum on Tourism, joining the Tanzania Tourist Board and Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), as well as South African Airways (SAA).

ATA’s highest profile US-based event was held on Thursday, September 27, at New York University’s Kimmel Center.

As co-sponsors, Honorable Sylvia Masebo, Zambia’s Minister of Tourism and Arts, and Honorable Walter Mzembi, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and President of the Africa Travel Association, delivered opening remarks, providing an update on the upcoming UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly meeting to be co-hosted by the two neighboring countries in Livingstone and Victoria Falls in August 2013. More than 126 countries are expected to participate in this international tourism event.

After the opening remarks, both Tourism Ministers participated in an interactive roundtable on the benefits of tourism. Participating ministers also include Honorable Fatou Mas Jobe Njie, Gambia’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, and ATA’s immediate past President, Honorable Utoni Nujoma, Namibia’s Foreign Minister of Namibia and Chief Secretary of the United Republic of Tanzania.