It is time to modernise and expand Indaba. This was the message from the Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk during his address at Indaba at the weekend.
According to the minister, the government and South African Tourism’s vision is that Indaba must be the platform for exhibitors and buyers, not only in and from South Africa, but for the whole of the African continent. “To achieve this we are willing to invest even more to transform Indaba into a pan-African trade platform,” said the minister.
He said increasing domestic tourism’s contribution to gross domestic product and promoting a culture of travel among South Africans were key objectives of the National Tourism Sector Strategy.
However, the minister added that some of the South Africans who do not travel say that they cannot afford to or are not aware of accessible offers. To address this, he suggested:
• investing in new partnerships and relationships, including between provincial tourism marketers and SAT;
• investing in a new marketing campaign for domestic tourists that is to be launched during Tourism Month in September, targeted at a broad cross-section of the South African population; and
• reminding South Africans that tourism is everybody’s business. All South Africans stand to benefit from a robust, growing destination.
He also announced that, as part of Indaba’s growth and expansion plans, African participation would be gradually increased at Indaba in 2014 and beyond.
It’s time to expand Indaba – Van Schalkwyk
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