The African Association of Women in Tourism & Hospitality has registered its presence in Ghana to work with key stakeholders in the Tourism and Hospitality industries.

The USA – Nigeria based organization, which is building a strong network of voices across the African continent, has appointed Radia Adama Saani, Chief Executive Officer of Moontouch Travel Ltd as its Country Representative for Ghana. Other country representatives include South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria etc. Jeremiah Quayson, who is Director of Africa – India Trade Council based in Ghana has been appointed as a Board Member of the Association.

Until her new appointment, Radia Adama Saani served in various capacities in the Hospitality, Tourism & the Aviation industries in the country.

The CEO of MoonTouch Travel Ltd, who doubles as a Founding Member & Head of Corporate Affairs of Africa Tour Operators Alliance-Ghana (ATOA) has accepted the appointment and promised to work with the organization to position women participation in Travel, Tourism and the Hospitality sectors in Ghana.

Aside advancing her career in the aviation and travel industry; she secured excellent academic credentials in the sector as she holds Master’s degree in International Hospitality & Tourism Management from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK.

She also had her first degree & diploma in similar fields from Université Abdel-Malek Essaadi, Larache in the Kingdom of Morocco which makes her very fluent in both French and English languages.

Aside Aviation and Tourism, she is well resourced in the Hospitality industry having worked as a front desk executive with Travelodge, one of the biggest hotel chain companies in the UK.

She also served as the PRO of Hotel, Catering & Tourism Training Institute (HOTCATT) under the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and a member of the Young Global Leaders Network.

From childhood, she had always desired to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Africa and beyond, therefore given birth to the establishment of Moontouch Travel Ltd.

She won the 2020 Travel & Tourism CEO of the year under Northern Excellence Awards.

Again, her company (Moontouch Travel Ltd) one of the travel management companies in Ghana with a wider clientele, was adjudged Ghana’s most outstanding Travel and Tour Agency for the year, 2020 at West Africa Business Excellence Awards held at Movenpick Hotel in Accra on 21st May, 2021.

All these, she said, were achieved because of her hard work and passion to grow and develop the Tourism and Aviation industries in Ghana.

She is also a great networker and has built a strong entrepreneurship & marketing skills which has assisted her in the travel industry and has constantly been engaged by Ghanaian media on Aviation & Tourism related issues.

Responding to her appointment in an interview with journalists, Radia Adama Saani, said she would work hard to promote the values and aspirations of the organization.

According to her, the International Labour Organization notes that, Women make up a large proportion of the formal tourism workforce but women are well represented in service and clerical level jobs but poorly represented at professional levels.

The tourism sector has almost twice as many women employers as other sectors, yet, one in five tourism ministers worldwide are women” she observed.

Consequently, her focus, as the country representative of the African Association of Women in Tourism and Hospitality, she underscored would centre on the five thematic goals of the Global Report on Women in Tourism.

The employment goal which indicates that tourism can provide decent work for women once the opportunity exists.

Promoting the entrepreneurship goal of women in tourism businesses to lead women into economic empowerment.

In addition, the education and training goal which would offer tourism education and training to people in order to promote gender equality and women empowerment in the sector.

Aside that, she said she would concentrate on leadership and the decision-making goal, where women are not fully represented and are not influential enough in the decision-making space at all levels of the tourism sector.

In terms of community and civil society goal, Radia Adama Saani said she would work closely with the President of the association, Daphne Spencer and the Chairperson Amaka Ndekwuwho together with Jeremiah Quayson, founding board member, and the other executives to understand that, tourism supports women to address gender inequalities in homes and communities.

Therefore, gender equality in tourism, she observed, would certainly increase women participation in tourism through constant training and empowerment.