The regional tourism body which she heads was first runner up in the ‘Oscars’ of tourism, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) 2016 Sustainable Tourism Initiatives Awards.
Carmen, Regional Co-ordinator for the East African Tourism Platform (EATP), was presented with the award in the Innovation in Public Policy and Governance category at the 12th UNWTO Awards ceremony in Madrid.
The EATP promotes tourism, a core aspect in the East African Community integration process. By fostering dialogue between the private sector and the national governments of five destinations – Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi – it has led a number of initiatives such as visa facilitation, joint marketing initiatives or the harmonization of standards and codes of conduct of tourism, positively enhancing the competitiveness and hence tourism of the area.
Carmen, based in Nairobi, is the former Director General of the Burundi National Tourism Office and was credited with raising the profile of tourism in Burundi.
Carmen graduated from the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯’s School of Sport and Service Management with a BA(Hons) in International Travel Management in 2005.
She said: “I had been so fortunate to have acquired the right foundation at the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯, where I was equipped to grasp and appreciate the complexity of the travel and tourism world as well as the thirst to discover more of this exciting industry that I knew little about back in 2002 when I enrolled to start my degree.