Speaker

Gitta Paetzold

CEO
Hospitality Association of Namibia

Mrs Gitta Paetzold, born in Namibia in 1966 has for the past 27 years served the Hospitality Association of Namibia, a private sector tourism accommodation organisation, committed to optimising the full potential of the Namibian Hospitality Industry. In her role, Gitta actively aims to build partnerships locally, continentally and internationally, in the strong belief that “tourism is everyone’s business. With an academic background in political science and first work experience in the media as radio & television journalist, Gitta has always been keen to help “tell the African story”, to ensure that the old narrative of Africa as the “dark continent” is counteracted with beautiful facts of this continent’s natural beauty and uniqueness, as well as its wealth of cultural diversity, as this is what makes this continent so valuable. Gitta strongly believes that the key to developing tourism in Namibia and Africa is to ensure that the local communities and the African people become actively engaged and responsible for the tourism product development, as the desire of the global traveler in the 21st century is not to do the “go there, do that and get the t-shirt/photo quick trip”, but to immerse themselves and experience a country and its people, tastes and sounds.