Black Meetings and Tourism

the Zulu people and the reign of Shaka Zulu. Majuda visited a host family near La Mirada and traveled by train each day to Grumman's Chinese Theatre to pose for pic- tures to raise money to buy a cow, which is the preferred form of commerce in Zululand. Majuda works three weeks on and one week off at Lesedi Cultural Village and African Lodge a multi cultural village near Johannesburg, which offers a unique African cultural experience http://www.lesedi.com/. Jo Keita who works with the Watts Learning Center met the storyteller at Lesedi and invited him to speak with the children and their families who will be visiting South Africa next year. The children were in awe as the drums beat and the storyteller in skins danced into the room then captivated them with his story of South Africa and Shaka Zulu. Majuda is pictured here in his "skins," an outfit made of leopard, cow and ostrich. He hunts leopard and spring- buck with a spear and raises cows when not working at Lesedi as one of the Cultural Directors. In his village each groups lives as one large family. Each man has several wives (the father gives the first 11 cows and the husband gives the next 11 cows for each subsequent wife). Each wife lives with the children to age 15 in huts around the village. The women cook for the group while the men hunt. The men 15 and older meet and eat in one large building while the woman and chil- dren under 15 eat in another area. At age 15 young peo- ple of the same gender pair up and move into huts of their own but eat all meals with the larger groups. Majuda was in the United States for 15 days and earned almost enough money to buy another cow. He is well on his way to his second wife! H.E. ZOHEIR GARRANAH, EGYPT'S MINISTER OF TOURISM ADDRESSES DELEGATES AT FIRST AMERICAN TOURISM SOCIETY CONFERENCE IN EGYPT Optimistic About Continued Growth From American Market The American Tourism Society held its first, and one of its largest conferences to date, in Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 27-30, 2008, under the auspices of H.E. Zoheir Garranah, Egypt's minister of Tourism. Joining the Minister at the opening was Mr. Amr El- Ezabi, chairman of the Egyptian Tourist Authority, David Parry, ATS chairman and chairman, Academic Travel Abroad, and Phil Otterson, ATS presi- dent, and VP External Affairs, Tauck World Discovery. Dr. Zahi Hawass, world acclaimed archaeologist and secretary general, Supreme Council of Antiquities, was keynote speaker. The ATS meeting, attended by more than 100 del- egates and 60 tourism students from Halwan University, took place at the deluxe Sofitel El Gezirah Hotel, over- looking the Nile. H.E Garranah told ATS dele- gates that Egypt welcomed 11.1 million tourists worldwide in 2007 representing a dramatic 20% growth over the previous year and generating over 9.5 bil- lion USD in revenue. Although the figures for the American market were more modest, 278,000 in 2007, H.E. Garranah said that this also represented a 20% increase over 2006 and was optimistic that this high growth rate will continue. Minister Garranah cited Egypt's diverse tourism product and the excellent value for the American dollar as two of the major factors for this increase in US visitors. Mr. Amr El- Ezabi applauded the ATS decision to hold its conference in Cairo, and welcomed those American tour operators that were discovering Egypt for the first time. "We are confident that the booming tourism devel- opment all over Egypt, and the diversification of our prod- uct, will provide excellent opportunities for new and excit- ing itineraries that will capture the interest of many in the US." He also noted that the upgrades to Egypt's infra- structure supports the optimism ETA has about the future of tourism in the country. "We expect 211,000 more hotel rooms to be completed by the end of this year, and the new airport terminal in Cairo is scheduled to open in 2010," said El-Ezabi. H.E. ZOHEIR Black Meetings & Tourism February/March 2009: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 103

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