‘Africa’s stories, your success’
AFRICA’S Travel Indaba has established itself as the world’s leading African trade show and has brought together thousands of international delegates to share the South African experience of travel and tourism.
Alisa Oseiasamoah, president of the Tour Operators Union of Ghana, said that when the pandemic hit, she thought the tourism sector would not bounce back.
“Some of my members had to fold their businesses because nothing was happening. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us new ways of managing the tourism industry, and we are able to share that knowledge with other countries. South Africa is huge in the African tourism sector, and we are able to bring our business to the country. Big strides have been made in the tourism sector in terms of comparing South Africa and Ghana. For Ghanaians, we thought at first that tourism would be moving out of the shores of Ghana and our domestic tourism sector was on the verge of collapsing, as we did not know what to expect with the pandemic and state of travel and tourism. This led us to promote our own domestic tourism and it worked – we now see the prospects of tourism.
“The return of Africa’s Travel Indaba enables us to explore and connect with new companies to grow our brand. The indaba will also help us grow and strengthen our domestic and international travel industry. I believe that we have all learnt a lot during the pandemic and it is going to improve our businesses in terms of tourism.”
Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, chief conventions bureau officer for South African Tourism, said she is grateful to have had a team that worked extremely
hard to make Africa’s Travel Indaba 2022 a success.
“The Africa’s Travel Indaba was a chance to reconnect with many people from all over the world.
“There were 18 African countries, 655 exhibitors, 965 buyers and 377 media hosted at this year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba. Also, there were 14 000 meetings that took place.
“This year, Africa’s Travel Indaba exceeded the organisation’s expectations.
Tourists could clearly see that the province can do big conferences in a time of challenges,” she said.
Nhlapo added that she was optimistic that South Africa will go back to the tourist arrival levels of 2019, and that the country will come back bigger and better for next year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba.
Lindiwe Rakharebe, chief executive officer of Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, said it had been a great honour to host this
year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba.
“The people of KZN showed that they can rise and be resilient, despite the many challenges faced. Collaborations with organisations made things possible to get ready for Africa’s Travel Indaba,” she said.
Themba Khumalo, acting chief executive officer for South African Tourism said, “I applaud the formidable women from various organisations who worked diligently to make Africa’s Travel Indaba an overwhelming success.”