South Africa to hold Travel Indaba event to increase tourist footfalls

The two-day event which is called Travel Indaba will take place from 2nd to the 4th of May at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Center in Durban.

South Africa, in a bid to attract tourist, has initiated several steps to increase the number of footfalls. The South African North West Department with combined efforts of Tourism board to hold series of event where the sole purpose will be to project the country as a tourist hotspot.

The two-day event which is called Travel Indaba will take place from 2nd to the 4th of May at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Center in Durban. The event will showcase the widest variety of African best tourism products to attract international buyers and media from across the world.

Travel Indaba is one of the largest marketing events on the African calendar, and one of the top three "must visit" events of its kind on the global calendar. It showcases Southern African tourism products and services for the international travel trade and offers travel buyers an unrivalled platform to do one-on-one business with the cream of the African leisure tourism industry players.

The North West Province Stand hosts 18 exhibitors with a wide range of product owners, who include tour operators, game lodges, luxury accommodations establishments and essential tourism services, such as travel agents, who are business ready and well positioned to showcase at Africa's largest and best travel trade show.

The Tourism Board also ensures market access by Emerging Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME's) within the tourism sector in the province, by making sure that SMME's are afforded an opportunity to be exposed to international marketing platforms to showcase their products and services.

As part of the 2019 Indaba side events, the Department and the Tourism Board will host the National Tourism Careers Expo (NTCE) Business Networking Session, on the 3rd of May, together with key partners, i.e. National Department of Tourism and CATHSSETA, for relevant stakeholders. Among others, the networking session has been decided upon to create a platform for the review of the 2018 NTCE, which was held for the first time in the North West Province. The NTCE will be hosted in the North West until 2020 and will be handed over to the next successful bidder.

Delegates at Durban during Indaba 2019 (Twitter: @travel_Indaba)

Last year over 7,000 delegates attended from 80 countries, with a buyer profile that included inbound tour operators, foreign travel agents, airlines, destination marketing companies, online booking companies and transport services.

Earlier, the South African government has vowed to speed up visa processes and lure major conferences in an effort to boost foreign arrivals by 40 per cent by 2021. These measures are part of a goal to attract five million additional travellers – four million international tourists and one million extra local holiday trips to boost its economy.