Big Ambitions

17/09/2026

Quick one for our travel and tourism friends: the rules around sustainability claims are changing, and “we’re eco-friendly!” isn’t going to cut it much longer.

From 27 September 2026, new EU sustainability directives come into force, and they’ll affect how travel businesses market and prove their green credentials.

Suppliers, agents, DMOs, associations – everyone’s got homework here.

The Travel Hub Collection and Travalyst are running a free webinar to help the industry get ahead of it: Navigating EU Sustainability Directives: A Practical Guide for the Travel Industry.

🗓️ 29 September 2026, 15:00 SAST
💻 Online + free downloadable guides for buyers and suppliers included

They’ll cover what's changing, what it means for your business, what you can (and can’t) say when marketing sustainability, and how to get certification and compliance right – with practical next steps you can start on immediately.

Consider this your friendly heads-up before the goalposts move.

Register for free now:

Africa offers an unmatched range of travel experiences – from iconic safaris and remote wilderness to vibrant cities, coastal escapes, and island retreats. Explore trusted, trade-ready destinations across the continent.

09/09/2026

When was the last time a travel article properly stopped you in your tracks?

News24.com has just published a stunning interactive feature on Saint Helena, and if you haven't read it yet, clear your afternoon. As you scroll, images shift, maps pinpoint exactly where you are on the island, and the story unfolds around you. The format is as immersive as the destination itself.

Writer and photographer Andrew Thompson spent seven days on this remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic – accessible via just one weekly flight from Johannesburg – and the result is one of the most compelling destination features we’ve seen in a while.

It captures exactly what makes St Helena so special, from white-knuckle landings and whale shark encounters to the Wednesday fish fry at the Yacht Club and coffee grown metres from where it’s served. It’s truly one of the last places on Earth where travel still feels like a genuine adventure.

Here at BA, we’re proud to work with St Helena Tourism, and even prouder when the island gets the kind of coverage it deserves.

Go read it. Guaranteed you’ll want to book a flight before you reach the end. https://specialprojects.news24.com/7-days-on-st-helena-travel-guide/index.html

08/09/2026

We love it when our clients make the pages of a glossy!

The spring 2026 edition of RUN Magazine, South Africa's premier running publication, features not one, but two of our clients, and we're not even a little bit surprised.

Tourism Seychelles' Seychelles Nature Trail gets a well-deserved spotlight: 22 km of granite boulders, tropical rainforest, brutal gradients, and ocean views that make the effort entirely worth it. The third edition took place in May, and the event will be back in 2027 – dates to be confirmed soon.

And for those who like their running with a side of seriously remote: the St Helena Marathon 2027 also features in this edition. Hailed as one of the world's most remote marathons, this one takes place on a volcanic island in the middle of the South Atlantic on 28 February 2027, starting at the Governor's residence and finishing on the Jamestown waterfront.

Two extraordinary destinations delivering two bucket-list events… and one very proud BA team.

07/09/2026

It’s been a challenging year for a lot of people in this industry. So, this Tourism Month, we’re focusing on the good stuff.

We asked Team BA to finish one sentence: In tourism, ______ makes me happy.

The answers? Cheesy guesthouse art. Noodles worth crossing borders for. Cuddles with farm dogs on the stoep with a coffee and rusk in hand. Those unexpected and unplanned moments.

Turns out, after everything, we’re all still capable of being charmed by the little things.

So, tell us… in tourism, what makes YOU happy?

Finish the sentence in the comments (bonus points for a photo), and let’s build the ultimate collage of everything we love about this beautifully chaotic industry.

28/08/2026

Yesterday, our Content Lead: Leisure, Bianca Golz, headed to Houghton Golf Club in Joburg for Profitroom's “Bloom or Be Doomed” conference.

It was a morning packed with honest, roll-up-your-sleeves conversations about everything from the future of direct bookings and the very real cost of OTA dependence, to next-generation booking engine design (hello, Booking Engine 8!), AI-driven discoverability, and a deep dive into why South African hotels are leaving serious money on the table at the payment stage.

The verdict? The African hotel industry is at a pivotal moment. The tools exist, and the data is there. The question is simply: are you actively tending your garden?
We work with travel and tourism brands every single day, and events like this are exactly why we love what we do. After all, staying ahead of the curve isn’t optional in this industry – it’s the whole game.

Big thanks to the brilliant Profitroom team for a day that was equal parts thought-provoking, energising, and loads of fun. The seeds have been planted…

26/08/2026

Are you a small business or community enterprise working in tourism across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, or Zimbabwe? Or do you know one that deserves the spotlight?

GIZ and Sigma International are on a mission to find the hardworking businesses already contributing to tourism across the KAZA region – and connect them with ongoing support, funding, and market access opportunities.

Whether you’re a lodge supplier, a craft maker, an experience operator, a community guide, or a recycling initiative keeping tourism green, they want to hear from you.

Here’s how to get involved:
Fill in the short survey: https://form.jotform.com/262101323522036

Or nominate a business you know: Drop their name, location, contact info and a one-liner about what they do to [email protected] or [email protected]

Local businesses are the backbone of sustainable tourism in Africa. Help us make sure the right ones are part of the conversation.

Please click the link to complete this form.

17/08/2026

We've been sowing good things here at Big Ambitions. 🌳

On Friday, our CEO, Natalia Rosa, got stuck into planting the ASATA 70 Legacy Grove at Vergelegen Wine Estate as part of ASATA’s 70th anniversary celebrations.

The grove is a living symbol of ASATA’s legacy of leadership and the future of an industry that continues to grow stronger together. It was great to be part of it!

Well done to all the industry stalwarts who temporarily traded their laptops for a spade… and, no doubt, a little Deep Heat afterwards.

11/08/2026

A little love for our friends at Uthando South Africa today, and a call to our tourism community to help. Uthando has just won the OurAfrica.Travel Community Award for the way it uses tourism to support grassroots projects across Cape Town.

One of those is the remarkable Goal50 Edu Hub in Heideveld, built largely from recycled waste. It already educates 30 children and runs a community feeding scheme. The next phase will grow this to 100 learners, with a library, special-needs classroom and skills-development centre.

Here’s where we come in. Uthando needs sponsors for 800 tyres to help build it. R10,000 sponsors a tyre, covering the work to pack it with 200kg of building rubble and use it in the walls.

In January, Goal50 will be showcased to international leaders and media visiting Cape Town for the Global Cities Forum. What a chance to show what tourism can give back to the communities people travel here to experience.

Sponsor a tyre – then challenge five others to do the same. ❤️

Sponsor a Tyre for Goal50 : https://www.uthandosa.org/goal50-fundraiser

09/08/2026

Happy Women's Day from the Big Ambitions team.

We are a proudly women-led agency, and this month, we’re celebrating every woman in travel and tourism who shows up, does the work, and moves this industry forward.

To our incredible team: we couldn’t do any of it without you.

06/08/2026

Our CEO, Natalia Rosa, has been named one of the most influential women in tourism in South Africa by SA Tourism Update Online, and we couldn’t be prouder.

From journalist to agency founder, Natalia has spent her career taking complex, unfamiliar territory and making it understandable and useful for the people who need it most. During COVID-19, that meant helping establish South Africa is Travel Ready and . Today, it means helping tourism businesses make practical sense of AI.

In her own words: "What carried me through was keeping the basics right, being ethical and caring genuinely about the work and about the people I was doing it for."
That’s the kind of leadership worth celebrating… not just in Women's Month, but always.

Read the full feature here:https://www.tourismupdate.com/edition/women-in-tourism-august-2026/view-edition