I recently attended the
Durban Tourism Indaba 2012 where thousands of travel professionals from across
the globe gathered. This is Africa's largest travel trade show that aims to
demonstrate there is more to destination marketing on the continent than luxury
safaris and adventure tourism.
2010 has left us a legacy of
infrastructure growth attractive to international travelers. This sort of
growth across the continent also makes it increasingly attractive to
international hoteliers, many of whom South Africa, too, is emerging from a
post Fifa World Cup slump.
Tourism Minister Marthinus
van Schalkwyk said in his speech that a year-on-year 3.3% tourist arrival
growth in 2011, with more than 6.3 million tourists visiting the country attest
to this. He added that the upcoming 2013 African Cup of Nations soccer
tournament was a major opportunity for the country to drive arrivals from the
African continent.
Quoted before the start of
the massive trade show, Thulani Nzima, chief executive officer of South African
Tourism, said to be successful in the industry required the joint effort, hard
work and cohesion of all partners to achieve continued tourism growth.
"Our industry has done extremely well with our 2011 tourist figures...
Now, it is up to everyone in all parts of the tourism value chain in both the public and private sector to be united in continuing to aggressively
defend our core markets and to pursue new markets which show rich
potential," Nzima said.
Africa is open for business
and the world needs to know that we won't stand back for anybody. This
continent offers a wealth of travel experiences and it is a desirable
destination in its own right. The travel and hospitality industry faces a
bright future under the African sun." Rail tourism is a new market with
only Luxury trains known. Metrorail has infiltrated this market and many were
excited about this product.
Indaba is indeed a platform
to boost our products and services and we should ensure that we do this.
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