Cultivating sustainable and peaceful communities through tourism

The International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) recognised Prof Ernie Heath, from the Department of Business Management, for his role in advancing tourism as a force for peace and socio-economic upliftment in South and southern Africa since the mid-eighties. Prof Heath again shared his expertise in tourism management education at the IIPT’s recent symposium, held in February.

On 16 February 2015 he presented a paper entitled “A Key Future Challenge: Aligning Tourism Management Education with the Dynamically Changing Environment” at the IIPT Educators Forum, while his paper on “Continuous tourism destination leadership learning: A key success factor for sustainable communities” were well received at the IIPT World Symposium, themed theme “Cultivating sustainable and peaceful communities and nations through tourism, culture and sport”.

Participating in this symposium brought back special memories as, more than 25 years ago, Prof Heath was the only South African to participate in the first IIPT symposium with the very relevant theme “Tourism, a vital force for peace”, which was held in Vancouver, Canada in 1988. On this occasion he presented a paper based on regional and community-based tourism research that he had conducted in the South African context, something that is becoming increasingly important to most tourism destinations.

In his role as Deputy Executive Director and head of marketing of South African Tourism during South Africa’s transition to democracy in the early nineties, Prof Heath played a key role in repositioning the South African tourism brand in the international marketplace. During this period he was also privileged to facilitate strategic and responsible planning and marketing initiatives for leading tourism bodies and more than forty national, provincial and local tourism destinations in South and Southern Africa.

According to Prof Heath the symposium had many positive and encouraging outcomes. The visionary and insightful messages brought by Dr Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Mr David Scowsill, President and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) regarding the future tourism potential and opportunities for particularly local tourism advancement in South and southern Africa, was most inspiring and augers well for the future.  

Prof Ernie Heath (right) with Dr Louis D’Amore, Founder and President of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism(IIPT)