The first Africa Travel Week taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) got off to a successful start on 28 April with ILTM Africa (International Luxury Travel Market), IBTM Africa (Incentives, Business Travel & Meetings) and WTM Africa (World Travel Market) which starts today, 2 May. When the show closes tomorrow, the whole week will have delivered to Africa over 6 500 one-to-one meetings providing an impressive economic impact on the continent’s leisure travel, luxury tourism, and the MICE/business travel sector. All three events are subject to an independent ABC audit of statistics after the shows to ensure full transparency for the industry.
“More important than numbers is the impact that these events have had on those involved. The comments from exhibitors, and buyers have shown that Africa Travel Week and all three events are clearly a vital component to this continent’s travel industry and we go into 2015 with the support of the exhibitors and buyers for next year’s event”, says Sugen Pillay, Business Development Director, Thebe Reed Exhibitions.
Suppliers and buyers have praised the three events as an “excellent new opportunity for Africa’s business development, knowledge enhancement and exclusive networking” in the region but with global relevance.
ILTM Africa exhibitor, Matt Biden representing The Royal Portfolio, said the luxury travel show was better than expected. “We love the international aspect to the Hosted Buyer programme. It has even allowed us to put names to so many international faces and after all, being at ILTM Africa has now saved us on the costs of travel to go and see them!”
IBTM Africa Hosted Buyer Daniel Wood, President of the Freestyle Football Federation, United Kingdom, commented, “IBTM Africa has been a fantastic experience for me. We have an unconventional product but we got a lot out of the two days with very productive meetings. The IBTM Forum was informative with some really interesting speakers. It was great to be able to network and chat with local experienced practitioners who can really testify that this is a market that we should invest in for more events and incentives.”
WTM Africa exhibitor William Cook, of Cooks Tours says he is “amazed with the interest he has already seen in the show. My diary is absolutely fully booked and that has never happened before.”
The final event for the inaugural Africa Travel Week, World Travel Market (WTM) Africa, kicked off today, with over 350 exhibiting companies bringing the world to Africa and promoting Africa to the world’s leading source markets over two days.
The culmination of a joint partnership between global events giant Reed Travel Exhibitions and African events specialist Thebe Reed Exhibitions, Africa Travel Week is dedicated to delivering real business opportunities in a focused way over a period of a week, providing a key industry platform that offers all travel industry professionals the chance to engage in real value business conversations, meet new contacts, exchange ideas, share best practice and learn and network in a fresh new environment.
“This is the first time we have ever undertaken to bring all three of our global brands together in one country in one week. Such a powerful business proposition not only shows the travel industry the diversity of this country’s travel offering to the world’s leading source markets, but it gives Africa the opportunity to be a global player in the leisure, business and luxury tourism sectors. We want to thank the City of Cape Town, the CTICC and Wesgro for their partnership and support in launching all three shows. We believe this is a truly unique proposition and this week has already created some staggering business opportunities as well as giving Cape Town its own introduction to many who have not been here before,” said Sugen.
Dates for Africa Travel Week 2015 are:
- ILTM Africa: 13-15 April 2015
- IBTM Africa: 13 – 15 April 2015
- WTM Africa: 15 – 17 April 2015
To find out more about WTM Africa visit www.wtmafrica.com.
