NEWS

Africa’s Travel Indaba — an all-round success

KwaZulu-Natal is back in the travel and hospitality game in a major way — and there is no stopping the province aiming to become the star in Africa’s tourism crown.

This much was all too clear after the impressive showing by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal and its partners at the 2022 Africa’s Travel Indaba which has set the benchmark for a bigger and better travel expo next year.

Africa’s Travel Indaba is a platform for all tourism players and exhibitors to show their best tourism products and offerings to the world.

Speaking at a wrap-up media briefing, Phindile Makwakwa, acting chief executive officer of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal said there had been incredible teamwork between the sister organisations — Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, Durban Tourism, South African Tourism and the Durban ICC.

“This year, KwaZulu-Natal came back on the international calendar and demonstrated to the world that the province was ready to host Africa’s Travel Indaba, despite the challenges faced over the past two years.

“Africa’s Travel Indaba is a platform for small enterprises and exhibitors to showcase their tourism offerings to the world,” she said, adding that Tourism KwaZulu-Natal looks forward to hosting more international delegates at next year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba.

Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, chief conventions bureau officer of the South Africa National Convention Bureau, a business unit of South African Tourism, said she is grateful to have had a team that worked extremely hard to make the Africa’s Travel Indaba a success.

“The Africa’s Travel Indaba was a chance to reconnect with many people from all over the world.

“There were 18 African countries, 655 exhibitors, 965 buyers and 377 media hosted at this year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba. Also, there were 14,000 meetings that took place during the Africa’s Travel Indaba.

“This year, the Africa’s Travel Indaba exceeded the organisation’s expectations. Tourists can see that the province can do big conferences in a time of challenges,” she said.

Ms Kotze-Nhlapo added that South Africa will go back to the tourists’ arrivals levels of 2019 and the country will come back bigger and better for next year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba.

Winile Mntungwa, deputy head of Durban Tourism, said it was good to have people from different parts of the world attending the Africa’s Travel Indaba.

“There had to be swift turnaround times on getting the surrounding areas in Durban ready for the Africa’s Travel Indaba and to welcome tourism and trade delegates to a clean city, especially following the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

“The city has been buzzing with thousands of delegates. Thank you to the people and the organisations for making this prestigious event such a success,” she said.

Ms Mntungwa added that the projections for the 2022 Africa’s Travel Indaba were 3,700 visitors, a direct spend of R29 million, R72.5 million contribution to the City’s GDP and 145 jobs were created.

Lindiwe Rakharebe, chief executive officer of Durban International Convention Centre, said it has been a great honour to host this year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba.

“The people of KwaZulu-Natal are showing that they can rise and be resilient, despite the many challenges faced.

“Collaborations with organisations made things possible to get ready for Africa’s Travel Indaba,” she said.

Themba Khumalo, acting chief executive officer of South African Tourism, said: “I applaud the formidable women from various organisations who worked diligently to make Africa’s Travel Indaba an overwhelming success.”