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Today, I received the heartbreaking news from Nothemba and Thabisile, Cuthbert Ncube’s daughter, that our dear friend Cuthbert Simphiwe Ncube, the charismatic chairman of the African Tourism Board, passed away this morning.
On behalf of the entire eTurboNews team, our readers, and the extended family of tourism professionals who have shared Cuthbert’s journey since 2018, I extend my deepest, most heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones.
Cuthbert was not simply a tourism leader we reported about. He was one of us. He was part of our family.
For eTurboNews, this is far more than breaking news. It is a deeply personal loss.
Cuthbert became part of our lives in 2018, when I launched the African Tourism Board as an eTurboNews marketing initiative to give Africa greater visibility in the global tourism industry.
What began as an idea among friends, readers, tourism ministers, and industry supporters became something much bigger under Cuthbert’s leadership.
He took our original vision and helped transform it into a truly African tourism organization, dedicated to bringing the continent together through tourism, cooperation, and shared opportunity.
He believed in Africa with extraordinary passion. His charisma, optimism, determination, and ability to bring people together made him far more than the chairman of an organization.
Today, we mourn a dear friend. We celebrate his life, his achievements, and the remarkable journey we shared.
How the African Tourism Board Began
The history of Cuthbert Ncube cannot be separated from the history of the African Tourism Board. And the history of the African Tourism Board is closely connected to eTurboNews.
In 2018, I launched the African Tourism Board as an initiative to market and promote Africa as a tourism destination. The original concept was relatively straightforward.
Africa had extraordinary tourism opportunities, but the continent’s visibility in the global tourism marketplace did not always reflect its potential. Individual countries were promoting themselves, often with limited resources, while the idea of presenting Africa more collectively remained underdeveloped.
Through eTurboNews, we already had a network of tourism professionals, government leaders, ministers, and industry supporters who believed Africa deserved greater attention.
We brought together an initial group of directors and supporters from this network.
Among them were Dr. Taleb Rifai, former Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization; Alain St. Ange, former Minister of Tourism of Seychelles; Dr. Walter Mzembi, former Minister of Tourism and Foreign Affairs of Zimbabwe; Moses Vilakati, then Minister of Tourism for the Kingdom of Eswatini; and Dr. Peter Tarlow, the Texas-based tourism safety and security expert associated with eTurboNews.
These were people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, united by the belief that Africa had enormous potential.
Our original idea was to establish a marketing initiative that could help African destinations gain international visibility and connect them with the global tourism industry.
We had the media network. We had the contacts. We had the enthusiasm. But Cuthbert saw something more.
Cuthbert Took Our Dream Further Than We Ever Imagined
This is perhaps the most important part of his legacy. Cuthbert Ncube did not simply join the African Tourism Board to occupy a leadership position.
He recognized that what had begun as a tourism marketing initiative could become something much bigger.
He saw the possibility of creating a genuinely African tourism organization, with African leadership, African participation, and an ambition that extended well beyond international publicity.
Where we had initially envisioned a marketing platform, Cuthbert envisioned a tourism board that could help bring an entire continent together. He understood that Africa needed more than promotion.
African Tourism Board Global – Trusted Provider Program
The African Tourism Board Trusted Travel Provider Program connects verified African tourism businesses with global markets through credibility, safety, and marketing support.
It needed cooperation, connections among governments, destinations, private businesses, entrepreneurs, and communities, and a stronger voice in international tourism discussions.
Most importantly, it needed Africans themselves to take ownership of that voice. Cuthbert embraced this challenge.
He helped take the African Tourism Board into its next phase, working to build a broader continental organization and to establish its identity as an African-led initiative.
That transformation was not easy. Building an organization across a continent of 54 internationally recognized countries, with different political systems, economic realities, cultures, and tourism priorities, is an enormous undertaking.
There were challenges, differing opinions, and obstacles along the way. But Cuthbert believed in the mission. He believed in Africa.
And he was not afraid to dream bigger than the people who had originally started the project.
That is something I will always respect about him.
Before the African Tourism Board: A Life of Leadership
Cuthbert’s journey did not begin with the African Tourism Board.
He had already built a career as a South African entrepreneur and tourism professional.
His business background included Kwela Fleet Management, a transportation and chauffeur services enterprise in Pretoria, and hospitality-related ventures, including Golden Feathers in Cape Town.
He understood tourism from the perspective of an entrepreneur who had experienced the practical realities of building a business. His professional journey eventually brought him into the international tourism arena.
In 2013, he became Regional Vice President for Africa within the Affiliate Members structure of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, now known as UN Tourism.
He was re-elected in 2015 and 2017.
This experience introduced him to international tourism diplomacy, global industry networks, and the complexities of bringing together public- and private-sector interests.
When he became involved with the African Tourism Board, he brought more than a title.
He brought relationships, experience, confidence, and an understanding of how international tourism organizations operated.
He also brought a distinctly African perspective.
He wanted the continent to participate in global tourism not merely as a destination being marketed by others, but as an active partner shaping the industry’s future.
The Charisma of Cuthbert Ncube
Some tourism leaders are remembered for their official titles. Others are remembered for their speeches, policies, or business accomplishments. Cuthbert will also be remembered for his personality.
He had a presence that could fill a room.
He could speak about African tourism with an intensity that made even the most ambitious ideas sound possible.
He understood the importance of personal relationships in an industry built around people, hospitality, and cultural exchange.
He could engage ministers and business executives, but his message was never limited to those in positions of power.
He spoke about opportunities for young people, women, entrepreneurs, and communities that had not always benefited from international tourism development.
For Cuthbert, tourism was not simply a matter of increasing visitor numbers. It was a tool for economic empowerment, dignity, opportunity, and pride.
He wanted Africa to be seen, respected, and heard. And he wanted Africans to benefit from the value of their own continent.
His passion was sometimes larger than the resources available to implement his ideas. But that was also part of who he was.
He did not allow limited resources to define the limits of his ambition.
From an Idea to a Continental Movement
When the African Tourism Board was formally launched in Cape Town during World Travel Market Africa in April 2019, it marked a new chapter for an initiative that had begun within the eTurboNews community.
Cuthbert became one of its central leaders.
In August 2019, he publicly announced that the African Tourism Board was open and operational.
His message was about African unity and collective responsibility.
Over the following years, he continued to promote the organization and its objectives through international events, meetings, partnerships, and public appearances.
His work brought attention to destinations seeking greater visibility, including countries such as South Sudan and Lesotho.
He advocated investment, cultural exchange, community participation, and the development of tourism opportunities across the continent.
Not every initiative achieved its ambitions, and the African Tourism Board itself went through organizational changes and challenges.
That is part of the history of building something new.
But the significance of Cuthbert’s contribution cannot be measured only by organizational structures, agreements, or membership figures.
He helped change the scale of the conversation.
An initiative that began as a marketing concept became a broader discussion about African tourism leadership and continental cooperation.
Cuthbert helped make that possible.
Our African Tourism Board Family
Looking back to 2018, I remember the enthusiasm that surrounded the original African Tourism Board initiative.
It began with people connected through eTurboNews, individuals who believed that tourism could create bridges among nations and cultures.
We were journalists, tourism ministers, advisers, entrepreneurs, and friends.
Some of us had worked together for years. Others came together because of a shared belief in Africa’s potential. Cuthbert became part of that family.
Over time, the organization developed its own identity and direction, beyond the original marketing initiative that eTurboNews had established.
That was a natural evolution, and in many ways, it reflected the ambition we had hoped the project would inspire.
The African Tourism Board was never meant to be about one individual. But individuals matter. Leadership matters. Passion matters. And Cuthbert brought all three.
For eTurboNews, the relationship was never simply institutional.
Our readers followed his journey. Our team reported on his initiatives. We watched the African Tourism Board develop from an idea into an organization with its own continental ambitions.
And through that journey, Cuthbert remained someone very special to us.
A Dream That Must Continue
Cuthbert’s passing raises a question that extends beyond the African Tourism Board.
Who will continue to champion the kind of African tourism cooperation he believed in so passionately?
The continent’s tourism potential remains enormous, but so do the challenges.
African destinations still face difficulties involving international air connectivity, visa policies, investment, infrastructure, marketing resources, and the distribution of tourism benefits among local communities.
There remains a need for stronger cooperation among African governments, tourism businesses, and international partners.
Cuthbert understood these challenges.
He also understood that cooperation could not be built through speeches alone. It required relationships, persistence, and a willingness to bring people together even when their priorities differed.
His dream was not completed. Perhaps dreams of this scale are never truly completed. They are carried forward by others.
The greatest tribute to Cuthbert would be for the African Tourism Board and the wider tourism community to continue building on the vision of African unity and opportunity that he championed.
Goodbye, Cuthbert. You Were One of Us.
As the publisher of eTurboNews, I have had the privilege of knowing many remarkable people in the international tourism industry.
Some have become colleagues. Some have become friends. A few have become family. Cuthbert Ncube belonged to that last group.
He came into our lives through a shared vision for African tourism and became part of a story much larger than any of us initially imagined.
I will remember his charisma, his enthusiasm, his ambition, and his belief that Africa could achieve more by working together.
I will remember that he saw opportunities where others saw limitations.
And I will remember that he took an idea we started at eTurboNews and helped turn it into something with a far greater purpose.
For that, he deserves recognition.
For his friendship, he deserves our gratitude.
And for the passion he brought to African tourism, he deserves to be remembered.
Today, our thoughts are with his family, his friends, his colleagues at the African Tourism Board, and everyone whose life he touched.
The tourism world has lost a passionate African advocate.
The African Tourism Board has lost a leader who helped shape its identity.
And eTurboNews has lost a member of its family.
Rest in peace, Cuthbert.
Thank you for believing in Africa. Thank you for believing in the African Tourism Board. And thank you for taking our original dream further than we ever imagined.
We will miss you, my friend.
Juergen T. Steinmetz, Publisher, eTurboNews & Founder of the original African Tourism Board marketing initiative, 2018
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