During 2025, the G20 Presidency is held by South Africa, representing the first ever G20 held in Africa. The Urban 20 (U20) is a formal G20 engagement group and acts as a city diplomacy initiative that facilitates engagement between the G20 and cities. It aims to raise the profile of urban issues in the G20 agenda and establish a forum for cities to develop a collective message informing G20 negotiations. On Friday, 13th June, the CSIR Conference Centre, City of Tshwane, welcomed nearly 30 U20 Sherpas from across the globe, as well as mayors and governors from the region, making up the African Mayors Assembly. The event forms part of the 2025 U20 cycle and was organised around four key priorities, including economic opportunities and financing, climate action and urban resilience, social inclusion and equity, as well as digital transformation and innovation.

Prof Elizabeth du Preez from the Tourism Management Division, Department of Marketing Management, participated in a parallel event ‘Harnessing Tourism for Inclusive and Sustainable Cities’. Her presentation, entitled ‘From Insight to Impact – Translating Tourism Research’, focused on strategies to promote data-driven decision-making in the context of limited resources for research. She highlighted how municipalities can effectively use digital tools for visitor information, data collection, marketing, and enhancing the overall tourist experience. She also shared lessons from past research projects undertaken by the Division in partnerships with the City of Tshwane. These included an accommodation benchmarking study as part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ preparations, as well as perceptions and travel behaviour of participants and spectators at the 2018 World Choir Games. She highlighted the importance of collaboration between municipal authorities, private sector associations, and institutions of learning to create real-life, locally relevant learning experiences for students.

The key role that tourism plays in local economic development once again became evident throughout the different sessions. Inclusivity and transformation need to be driven at a local level in alignment with national priorities. At the same time, municipal tourism management has a number of unique challenges, ranging from governance, infrastructure, and resource constraints to effective public-private partnerships. Institutions of learning and research, such as the University of Pretoria, can play a significant role by contributing to data-driven decision-making across various components of urban tourism destinations.