Africa's first association for visitor experiences and attractions launches!

The only association for visitor experience and attraction professionals, the African Association of Visitor Experiences and Attractions (AAVEA), celebrated its inception with a digital media launch on Wednesday, 6 March 2019.

At the fifth annual Attractions Africa conference last June, Sabine Lehmann announced the intention to launch an association focussed on unifying and elevating the attractions sector, and raising awareness about the contribution that attractions and visitor experiences make to the broader tourism industry. In November 2018, based on the success of five Attractions Africa conferences, AAVEA was formed. 

A first for the continent, AAVEA is a membership-driven association, governed by a board, which offers the only educational opportunities for visitor experience and attraction professionals in Africa. At its annual conference, AAVEA members and others in the attractions sector will learn, network, share, and seek solutions together. 

Lehmann, founder of AAVEA and a thought leader in the attractions sector with 25 years of experience in the tourism industry, heads up the new AAVEA Board as its president. She is thrilled about the launch of the association and the impact it will have on the broader tourism industry: 

“Visitor experiences and attractions play an important role in the tourism economy and are often the reason people choose to visit a city or region in the first place. Through AAVEA and our conference, we hope to raise the profile of attractions within the tourism industry, be the voice of the attractions sector, and contribute to the quality of attraction and visitor experience management,” says Lehmann.

 In another exciting feat for AAVEA, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) has recognised the association as its African representation in its Europe, Middle East, and Africa division, now known as IAAPA EMEA.

 “Attractions Africa, now AAVEA, has been instrumental in the growth of the attractions industry in Africa. We are excited to work with them to strengthen our presence in the continent. We, as IAAPA EMEA, look forward to co-hosting with AAVEA our Institute for Attraction Managers training course that will be held in Cape Town in the latter part of 2019, and our global leadership forum in South Africa in early 2020”, says Jakob Wahl, Vice President and Executive Director of IAAPA. 

Join us at the 2019 Annual Conference:

 Attractions Africa, now AAVEA, will hold its fifth annual conference (AAVEA 2019) on 21 and 22 August 2019 in Cape Town. 

The conference is a two-day event especially designed for visitor experience and attraction professionals. The programme comprises international speakers sharing trends, benchmarks, and best practice, as well as local examples of excellence, case studies, and white papers presented by local attraction and visitor experience professionals. 

Conference registration for AAVEA 2019 will open in April 2019  and AAVEA members enjoy special discounted pricing.  

For more information about AAVEA, please visit www.aavea.org.za, call +27 (0)21 683 2934, or send an email to info@aavea.org.za.

Interested conference participants are invited to follow AAVEA at @Attractions_Afr on Twitter and @AttractionsAfrica on Facebook.