AFRICA’S TRAVEL INDABA

Africa’s Travel Indaba — be part of the story

Now more than ever, it is critical for the entire sector to unite, and register to attend Africa’s Travel Indaba which makes a comeback after a two-year pause due to Covid-19.

As the tourism sector is slowly recovering, following the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the floods in KwaZuluNatal will certainly set the sector back further as lives have been lost and many others injured whilst businesses and organisations have lost their properties and livelihood.

Plans remain in place for the hosting of Africa’s Travel Indaba in the city of eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal from 2-5 May. Africa’s Travel Indaba 2022 is ready to welcome delegates from across the world, to connect and do business, contributing to the African continent’s tourism sector recovery.

About Africa’s Travel Indaba

Africa’s Travel Indaba is Africa’s largest B2B Leisure tourism platform, that serves to curate the quality relationships between all value chain players, built on true value into the future

It showcases the widest variety of Africa's best tourism products and attracts international buyers and media from across the world. Africa’s Travel Indaba is owned by South African Tourism and organised by Synergy Business Events (Pty) Ltd.

Africa’s Travel Indaba has won the award for Africa’s best travel and tourism show. This award was presented by the Association of World Travel Awards.

Show Dates

BONDay: 2 May 2022

Show Days: 3-5 May 2022

Venue: Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre (Durban ICC), City of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal

Theme:

AFRICA’S STORIES. YOUR SUCCESS

Africa Moves You through telling real African stories, which inspires Africa’s world-class tourism products that give travellers an unforgettable travelling experience.

The theme, ‘Africa’s stories, your success’ reaffirms the fact that Africa is reclaiming its own narrative and is ready to share with the world inspiring stories of resilience shown throughout the pandemic.

Africa’s Travel Indaba is the best platform to witness how a new story of African prosperity is being told through tourism, from exhibitors, buyers, media and stakeholders’ perspectives.

Africa’s Travel Indaba is set to bring much needed economic injection into the city of Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal province at large, as international delegates will be hosted on pre- and post-tours, to familiarise them with the province’s tourism offerings.

At the last edition of Africa’s Travel Indaba in 2019, the show attracted about 6,200 delegates from all over the world, with 1,033 exhibiting businesses from nineteen countries on the continent, showcasing an array of travel and tourism offerings to almost 1,177 local, regional and international buyers. Furthermore, almost 452 local, regional and international media representatives participated at Africa’s Travel Indaba 2019, pointing to the stature and global profile of the African continent’s tourism industry.

To date, there are currently exhibitors and buyers from over 47 countries around the world, confirmed to attend Africa’s Travel Indaba 2022 and ready to do business. These countries include South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, Ghana, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, to name a few.

Empowering small business

With travellers from across the world seeking new experiences, Africa’s Travel Indaba continues its commitment to empowering small and lesser-known businesses in the tourism sector. The trade show will feature SMMEs from all of South Africa’s nine provinces.

Themba Khumalo

South African Tourism’s acting chief executive officer, Themba Khumalo, invited players in the tourism industry (both local, regional and international) to come and attend Africa’s Travel Indaba. He emphasised that Africa’s Travel Indaba is an African trade show specifically tailored to advancing the continent’s tourism sector needs, with a clear outlook towards recovery. “We believe that this platform will showcase authentic African experiences and products. Buyers from across the globe will have access to only the best and uniquely African products and experiences.”

He said: “The tourism sector has remained resilient through the Covid-19 pandemic though the devastating effects of the pandemic can never be discounted. This can largely be attributed to the sector uniting, acting and advocating for recovery. Now more than ever, this spirit needs to be reignited. The more delegates register to attend and participate at Africa’s Travel Indaba, the more the trade show will bring much needed economic injection into the city of Durban and the KZN province at large. The hosting of international delegates on pre- and post tours to familiarise them with the province’s tourism offerings will also go a long way in this regard.”

The National Disaster Management Centre and the InterMinisterial Committee on Disaster Management have been activated following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the province recently. These structures are coordinating an integrated response across all spheres of government, the private sector and civil society. South African Tourism, owner and host of Africa’s Travel Indaba, is encouraged that there will be a speedy restoration of infrastructure so as to allow citizens to resume their normal lives.

“We applaud the speedy action in clearing major affected roads. This makes the province open and ready to welcome tourists and, all Indaba delegates who will come from various parts of South Africa and the world in May. While there are some areas that are affected by power cuts and water shortages from time to time, we know that the various government structures are working tirelessly to restore these. Visitors to the province can still enjoy the varied attractions, products and experiences that the province has to offer,” Mr Khumalo added.

Phindile Makwakwa

Phindile Makwakwa, acting chief executive officer of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal said that the organisation shared the pain of those who have been affected by the floods in KwaZulu-Natal. “Tourism KZN is confident there will be restoration within the province and a speedy recovery to get back to normality, especially after having endured two years of Covid-19. She added: “Africa’s Travel Indaba will confidently demonstrate to exhibitors, buyers, and the international market that KZN is roaring again and ready to offer memorable travel and tourism experiences and events.”

Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo

Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, the Chief Convention Bureau Officer at the South Africa National Convention Bureau, said that there is a lot to look forward to at this year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba.

“More than contributing to the city and the province’s tourism sector and the economy, Africa’s Travel Indaba is poised to ensure that both our exhibitors and buyers extract maximum value from the trade show. Only globally vetted buyers will be at the trade show, and they will be paired with exhibitors through our internationally benchmarked diary system to ensure seamless booking of meetings ahead of the show,” Ms Kotze-Nhlapo concluded.