Techy Town Meets Mother City: AI Avengers Assemble – The Future of Tourism Won’t Wait

What were your favourite movies or books growing up? The ones that made you dream bigger, imagine bolder, maybe even wish for superpowers?

When we were kids, we didn’t just read or watch them—we lived them. We fought imaginary battles in the streets with friends who also believed in the impossible. We didn’t need permission to dream about saving the world, building spaceships, or discovering secret powers.

And then, somewhere between 13 and 30, reality crept in. Careers, bills, expectations, “being sensible”… we found reasons to stop believing. To stop imagining. To stop chasing the improbable.

But here’s the thing: the future still belongs to the bold. The dreamers. The ones willing to take the first step when it feels impossible. To boldly go to where no person has gone before...

I’ve always been one of those dreamers. Those childhood stories made me fall in love with science and maths (don’t judge me), leading me to study Mathematical Statistics and Computer Science at university, start my career with tech giants like IBM, and eventually fall head over heels for tourism and its power to change lives.

That’s why launching the AI in Tourism Hub feels like coming full circle. It’s Africa’s first platform bringing together the sharpest minds in tourism, tech, and ethics to ensure AI doesn’t just disrupt tourism—it transforms it, for good.

And like every great story, we have a mission with four stages:

1. Demystifying AI – Making AI simple and accessible. Think AI for Dummies, Tourism Edition.

2. Building Awareness & Education – Helping tourism professionals understand AI’s power to transform destinations, businesses, and visitor experiences.

3. Solving Real Problems – Tackling the travel challenges that have frustrated us for decades: safety, seasonality, sustainability, visitor flow, efficiency—you name it.

4. Creating Competitive Advantage – Using AI to help destinations and businesses stand out in a brutally competitive global market.

Leading this quest is our very own Avengers-meets-Fellowship-of-the-Ring:

• Rhoda Davids (Cape Town Tourism) – Digital Sorceress, weaving AI magic into marketing.

• Sulaiman Fredericks (Cape Town Tourism) – Tech Whisperer, defender of cyber-realms.

• Aslam Levy (Western Cape Gov) – Public-Sector AI Knight, slayer of bureaucracy dragons.

• Jarrod Cross (Grasp Digital) – Marketing & AI Mastermind, turning data into gold.

• Kevin Silver (Macrocosm.London, UK) – AI SEO Wizard, conjuring global discoverability.

• Sipho Mtombeni (Google SA) – Policy Guardian of the Galaxy, protector of ethics in the digital kingdom.

• Simone Zanetti (Zanetti AI Institute) – AI Gandalf, guiding us through the tech labyrinth.

This is where Techy Town meets Mother City. It’s bold. It’s brave. And yes, it might ruffle some feathers. Because the future of tourism won’t wait for us to feel comfortable.

The AI Avengers have assembled. Our mission has begun.

#AIinTourism #TourismFutures #LoveCapeTown #CapeTownTourism #TechForGood #Innovation #AIAvengers #CapeTown2039 Rhoda Davids Sulaiman Fredericks Aslam Levy Jarrod Cross Kevin Silver Sipho Mtombeni Simone Zanetti