There are so many hotels participating in the 2024 Inter Hotel Challenge (32!) that Showcook, the organisers of this national hospitality competition, had to host two launch events for the hotels in Cape Town. This second launch was held on Thursday, 22 August 2024 at the gorgeous Twelve Apostles Hotel, situated along the Atlantic coast under Table Mountain and its Twelve Apostles. Alan Winde, the Western Cape premier, inspired everyone with his tales of tourism booming and partnerships between government and business starting to show fruits, such as the Jakes Gerwel Technical School in Bonnievale. He shared that another one of these technical high schools are being built in Struisbaai, using the skills of the artisanal Jakes Gerwel students to help build container classrooms in record time. Education and skills training are critical and if we are to provide world class experiences (Alan spoke a lot about experiential tourism), a program like the Inter Hotel Challenge, which recognises and trains its young hotel staff, is really important.