ORGANISERS of WTM Africa are
calling the event, which was part of
Africa Travel Week, a success and
have confirmed that a three-year
contract has been concluded with
Cape Town.
WTM Africa saw more than 350
travel companies exhibiting, catering
for both inbound and outbound
markets.
“Being able to network with
suppliers from other countries was
fantastic,” says Sure Maritime
Travel’s Rachael Penaluna.
“Pre-booking appointments with
representatives from countries
we wanted to know more about
was key. We went directly to the
suppliers, countries and operators
that we knew would be useful to
our consultants, which included
representatives from Nigeria,
Madagascar, Turkey, Dubai, Thailand,
Ghana and Kenya.”
The overall sentiment at the event
was that travel in sub-Saharan
Africa would continue to grow and
that the industry should expect a
good year. Focus was placed on
the importance of online tools for
travel companies, particularly in the
mobile and social media spaces.
Cape Town Tourism used the show
as an opportunity to launch its
mobile visitor information centre,
which is a vehicle named ‘Thando’.
At the launch, deputy mayor for the
City of Cape Town, Ian Neilson, said
Cape Town was seeing significant
growth in domestic arrivals, which
were up by 64% over that last four
years.
Carol Weaving, md of Thebe Reed
Exhibitions Groups, the organisers
of Africa Travel Week, said more
than 10 500 appointments took
place during the International Luxury
Travel Market, Incentives, Business
Travel & Meetings and WTM Africa
combined.
Carol said Thebe Reed planned to
grow the number of exhibitors and
buyers for next year’s show, which
will take place between April 13
and 17. She added that the group
would stick to its formula of back-toback,
one-on-one meetings for ILTM
and IBTM.
