#Indaba2017: Show's success reflected in high attendance figures

19 May 2017

With around 7,000 delegates and more than 1,000 businesses from 18 African countries, showcasing a diverse array of travel and tourism offering, Africa's Travel Indaba 2017 has been hailed as a “resounding success”. There were more than 20,000 confirmed meetings being held over the three show days - an increase of over 20% compared to last year's figure.

Source: Africa's Travel Indaba

“This year was all about listening to the feedback from exhibitors and partners that resulted in some fundamental changes, to ensure the event stays fresh and relevant. These ranged from the show’s updated diary system that provided more matchmaking and meeting opportunities to a brand-new Indaba app as the show’s primary source of information about news, meetings and events,” South African tourism chief executive officer, Sisa Ntshona.

There were also several developments at this year’s event, held at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, including:

Rebranding and renaming of the show to Africa’s Travel Indaba;
I Do Tourism marketing campaign, focusing on the potential of tourism to change people’s lives for the better by making a direct and tangible contribution to inclusive economic growth.
Women in Tourism (WiT) 30in5 campaign, aimed at achieving 30% of women in executive management and board directorship positions in tourism in the next five years.
First Business Opportunity Networking Day (BONDay) session, where international best practice in marketing and communications was shared with exhibitors, who were also given a platform to network and interact.

"It is evident that robust engagements need to take place between the public and private sector to grow tourism together. Transformation in the tourism sector will also be high on the tourism agenda and we will ensure that emerging entrepreneurs are given the necessary resources and skills to develop new products and experiences for the city. We look forward to the innovation and transformation of Africa’s Travel Indaba over the next five years,” says Phillip Sithole, acting deputy city manager for eThekwini and head of Durban Tourism.

The city won the bid to host Africa’s Travel Indaba for the next five years.