Durban comes alive for Tourism Indaba 2008

Durban – The 2008 Tourism Indaba attracted about 14% more visitors to the show as compared to last year, with the overall number of registered visitors at 3 777. Local and international media registrations have also increased by 17% from 316 to 385.Ms Sindile Xulu, Manager for Domestic Tourism at SA Tourism, confirmed that this was officially the biggest indaba ever. “Especially encouraging is the notable increase of new international delegates to the show, which has grown by 19% from 1,713 in 2007 to 2,108 this year,” she said.

Registrations received indicate that international buyers have increased by 38% , while local tourism trade is sitting at 392, a 26% increase from the 287 in 2007.

This year’s indaba was crucial in promoting the industry and the city as a top-notch tourism destination because many of the buying decisions for the 2010 FIFA World Cup were made at this event.

The global travel and tourism trade has an approximate 18 month buying cycle.

The buyers were at Indaba to do business and to invest in the best and most accessible of South African destination products as well as find places to stay and things to do for the hundreds of thousands of football fans who will flock to South Africa in 2010 to be a part of the first world cup on African soil.

“Indaba gives local trade opportunities to market its products as well as participate in workshops and other activities on offer,” Ms Xulu said.

Source: BUA News

About the author

Leoni Benghiat wrote 138 articles on this blog.

Leoni Benghiat has a keen interest in travel-related topics and dabbles in all kinds of journalism – newspapers, magazines, websites, whatever publishing opportunity presents itself. Being a patriotic South African she feels the need to tell the whole world that South Africa has much to offer, even though some days might seem dark. And the wonder of the internet has made this possible – with the help of all the other South Africans in the travel industry, of course.

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