The impact of the Tourism Indaba

DURBAN will again be the gateway to travel on the continent as the Tourism Indaba returns to the city next week.

Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) operations manager Charles Preece said historically the Indaba has been a “big ticket” event for hotels.

“Although occupancy is lower this year, all the big hotels from the Hilton to the beachfront, all the way to Umhlanga, are always filled for the Indaba,” he said.

Many of the hotels would also benefit in the long term as tourists often returned to Durban and the province for their own leisure or to bring clients.

“The major hotels will have stands there so they sign two or three-year contracts with tour operators,” said Preece.

Dumile Cele, chief executive of the Durban Chamber of Commerce, said the economic spin-offs were enormous.

“Indaba creates about 200 jobs and brings in about R50 million to the economy of Durban. But the impact is much wider than the rands and cents we calculate by way of direct spend. A lot of the ongoing benefits are from people who continue to see us as a destination after being here or being exposed to what the tourism industry has to offer while at Indaba,” she said.

Rung Button, head of the KZN chapter of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa), said the Indaba was special. “It’s a fantastic platform for anyone who has a tourism service to offer to show what they can do. Networking is also an important impact of the Indaba.”As an owner of a destination management company, Button said it was a chance to meet suppliers from other African countries in person and hear first hand the new highlights, products and offerings.

Button is especially excited for this year’s Indaba as SATSA has partnered with SA Tourism on a market access partnership to develop the SMME tourism sector which would contribute to transformation.

In the initiative which ran from December last year, 90 small and medium-sized historically disadvantaged enterprises from around the country participated in training and peer-to-peer mentorship.