ATLAS Africa Coordinators
Karen Harris and Christoffel Botha
University of Pretoria
South Africa
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Report 2026
The Africa Chapter of ATLAS in 2025 continues to be led by Karen Harris and C.R. Botha from the Department of History, Heritage and Cultural Tourism at the University of Pretoria. Similar to the successes of 2024, 2025 was an eventful and productive year for the regional chapter.
In October 2025 ATLAS Africa partnered with the Ministry of Tourism for South Africa, University of Pretoria (UP) and the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) to host this institutional body’s annual Research Seminar. This year the theme was “Advancing tourism growth, development and sustainability through evidence-based research”. The event was co-opened by ATLAS Chair, Prof Corné Dijkmans, Deputy-Dean for the Humanities Faculty at UP, Prof Zitha Mokomane, as well as the Deputy Director General of the National Department of Tourism, Ms Anemie Malan. Prof Dijksman emphasized the importance of cross-disciplinary and cross-continental tourism research and engagement. The seminar was held at the Future Africa Facility at UP. Over five-hundred scholars, experts and industry partners attended the event and a number of tourism students that participated in the 2024 ATLAS Africa student-led webinar also had the opportunity to present posters on the day as part of the “Postgraduate Student Exhibition”.
These tourism students and their research topics included:
• Louisa Jordaan – “Capitalising on fear? Developing a serial killer tourism attraction in South Africa”
• Lona Mfeketho – “Clicks, donations and controversies: The impact of real-life streaming on tourist destinations and host communities”
• Sonali Vishnukumar – “Tourism safety and crime intelligence”
• Kagiso Seichokelo – “Global genealogical tourism: A potential root/route for the preservation of cultural heritage”
The successful event underscored the potential and opportunities in tourism research and scholarship across the African continent for stakeholders as well as for future-fit graduates. ATLAS Africa sets to capitalize on this momentum with the upcoming events planned for 2026/27.
In November 2025 the postgraduate student cohort in the Heritage and Cultural Tourism Honours degree presented the sixth annual student-led webinar, in collaboration with ATLAS and ATLAS Africa, to showcase their successes and growth within this graduate program’s student-led tourist guiding incubator – University of Pretoria Campus Tours (UPCT). This webinar was also opened by Prof Corné Dijkmans (ATLAS Chair), who recognized the importance of the UP’s student contribution to the broader ATLAS network.
The student webinar focused on the topic of “Going green” and highlighted how UPCT embraced sustainability and responsible tourism on an ever-changing campus as well as within a world faced by a number of internal and external environmental risks (e.g. climate change and overtourism). The theme focused specifically on the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related specifically to its core environmental concerns. This included: SDGs 13 (Climate action); 14 (Life Below Water); and 15 (Life on Land). It involved collaboration with the Botanical Gardens and Horticultural Divisions at UP. The webinar also highlighted how UPCT as cultural ambassadors for UP are also active ambassadors for environmental awareness and preservation.
The seminar had over fifty virtual attendees from across the globe. The link to the seminar is as follows:
For 2026 this Work Integrated Learning (WIL) initiative, UPCT, will host its seventh ATLAS Africa student webinar under the theme of “Inclusive tourism experiences”. The theme focuses specifically on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 (Reduced inequalities), and will involve a collaboration with the Access, Disability and Inclusion Services (ADIS) entity at UP. Presenters at this year’s event will be this year’s honours cohort (fourth year students) in Heritage and Cultural Tourism. These postgraduate students include: Zanele Manese, Lerato Mothopeng, Bonolo Sithole, Casandra Siwele, Kamogelo Nduna, Jadine Maharaj, Belinda Mahlangu, Masego Ramorola, Lindiwe Mbau, Hope Sithole, Koketso Molapo, Bella Wood, Emmanuel Radingwana, Idamari Hatley, Tebogo Moela and Olivia Makwakwa. The session will be facilitated by the above ATLAS Africa Coordinators.
How the student’s build-up to this international event (theoretically and practically) can be followed on their webpage and social media platforms:
Webpage: https://www.up.ac.za/up-campus-tours
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/UniversityOfPretoriaCampusTours/?_rdc=1&_rdr#
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upcampustours/
Going forward for 2026/27, ATLAS Africa continues to work to expand its network across the continent, and is similarly looking to further extending its teaching, learning and research frameworks in tourism, hospitality and leisure with other African universities in the short and long-term. ATLAS Africa is also looking to host its third biennial online international conference in early 2027.