Africa’s Travel Indaba Durban 2022

Calls for Africa collaboration to drive tourism growth and recovery

After a hiatus of three years, Africa’s Travel Indaba was inaugurated by the ringing of the bell by Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Tourism, Republic of South Africa. 634 exhibitors and 625 buyers from 55 nationalities including 18 African nations engaged in approximately 22,000 meetings scheduled from May 3rd to May 5th. Sisulu called for greater collaboration among African countries to advance tourism on the continent, particularly for domestic and regional travel.

This year, Africa’s Travel Indaba officially called for the continent to work collaboratively to drive tourism growth, to speed up the sector’s recovery. Lindiwe Sisulu said. “Africa’s Travel Indaba is a springboard for the continent to achieve even greater levels of recovery. We are here because we have a collective responsibility to reignite the African continent’s tourism growth and economy.”

Sisulu said all role players in the industry must continue to drive growth in tourism numbers by bringing together a range of Africa’s best and unique stories and products from across the continent, and connecting them with buyers from across the world.

Africa continues to struggle with many barriers to tourism growth, which include poor road infrastructure between major cities, limited airlift, and stringent immigration regulations.

“I have had several engagements with my fellow cabinet members in related departments, in a bid to partner and address these challenges as we together work towards our sector’s recovery. We have already seen positive developments around the roll-out of the e-visa regime for some of our key source markets. This is not only important for South Africa’s tourism sector recovery but also for the greater continent’s intra-trade activities,” Sisulu said.

During the tourism board’s four-city Roadshow in India across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad, South African Tourism showcased long-term investment and interest in the India market and outlined a strategic roadmap to garner a 64 per cent YoY increase in Indian visitors in 2022. The recently rolled out e-visas for India are expected to drive a large part of this growth.

At present, several stop-over flights fly from India to South Africa, including Emirates, Air Seychelles, Qatar Airways, Air Arabia, Ethiopian Airlines, and Kenya Airways. Travellers from India to South Africa will be required to produce either a complete vaccination certificate or a negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test, no older than 72 hours from the time of departure from the country of origin to South Africa.