LEA Sends 10 Small Businesses To ITB Berlin

The Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) has sponsored 10 businesses in Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) sector to participate at this year’s ITB Berlin slated for March, 9-12 2020. The sponsored SMMEs that come from Maun, Kasane, Pilane and Gaborone trade in various sub sectors of tourism such as hospitality, mobile safari and tours as well as travel agency operators. ITB Berlin is the world’s leading travel trade show held in Berlin, Germany annually, organised by Messe Berlin. It is the largest tourism Business-toBusiness (B2B) trade fair, where the first two days are trading days and the last two days are open to consumers. The companies and NGOs represented at the fair include hotels, tourist boards, tour operators, system providers, airlines, and car rental companies. This year ITB Berlin will host the trade show as an entirely virtual event trademarked ITB Berlin NOW. This global, virtual event format targets the B2B community, comprising of exhibitors, trade visitors and buyers from every segment of the global tourism value chain, as well as journalists and travel bloggers. The virtual platform will present expert discussions, exhibitor presentations, business partner suggestions, networking features, inspiration, and business-enhancing functionalities. The virtual trade fair will therefore enhance business linkages with the local and international markets and accord them an opportunity to market their services. Despite the suppressed Tourism market due to the COVID-19 pandemic, LEA continues to provide targeted capacity development and support services to SMMEs in Botswana. The ITB Berlin sponsorship comes after the Tsosoloso workshop that was recently held in Gaborone by LEA specifically for the Tourism industry. LEA organised Tsosoloso workshop with the intent to resuscitate businesses and devise strategies with clients on how they can recover from the COVID-19 adversities.