The year 2020 was meant to be the start of a great year for sustainable tourism. We only have 10 years to make significant progress towards achievement of Agenda 2030 and meeting targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. The year 2020 was to be the start of the decade of action. The covid-19 epidemic changed everything, especially for tourism. The health crisis grounded global mobility and shifted concern to human wellbeing more than ever before. Tourism which relies on movement of people was the hardest hit as global travel restrictions were imposed by 72% of the world’s countries.Travelers were therefore forced to stay apart from each other or locked at home, voluntarily and involuntary. STAS2020, a sustainable tourism event, was affected by this situation.

In response to covid-19 and the need to underscore the importance of sustainability in the restart of tourism, especially for Africa, STAS2020 will be going virtual instead of cancelling. Leaders known for providing sustainable tourism solutions in development, policy and business practice will come together for a one-day webinar to engage tourism stakeholders on;
1. Tourism and covid-19; Why the sectors resilience will require reshaping alliances and partnerships
2. Revenue retention in destinations for building resilience
3. Why the restart of tourism will be about sustainability and what does this mean for policy and business practice?
4. Importance of partnerships in conservation crisis management