One of Africa’s most highly-anticipated travel trade shows opened its floors to inbound and outbound travel professionals today, hosting a varied mix of international buyers, local outbound specialists, tourism product and destination marketing organisations.
Prestigious WTM Africa Buyers were treated to a taste of Africa at the Hosted Buyer Welcome Party on Tuesday night, sponsored by GOLD Restaurant, setting the scene for a productive and stimulating three days ahead.
The first day of WTM Africa 2017 proved to be very exciting, with travel professionals buzzing around the Cape Town International Convention Centre between meetings and events. Highlights include the WTM Africa 2017 official opening by the host City of Cape Town, cutting edge discussions in the Travel Tech Theatre, a dedicated programme for local outbound specialists, and key travel trends presented by Euromonitor for the years ahead in the WTM Africa Conference Theatre.
Image 1: WTM Africa 2017 opens its floor to attendees with James Vos, Shadow Minister of Tourism; Alderman Ian Neilson, Executive Deputy Mayor of the City of Cape Town; and Carol Weaving, Managing Director of Reed Exhibitions.
Chardonnay Marchesi, General Manager of Africa Travel Week, says: “There was a great buzz on the floor on the first day of WTM Africa, with buyers, attendees and media meeting throughout the day. The WTM Africa team has worked hard at creating a stimulating and innovative environment that not only encourages connections, but facilitates lucrative business meetings for attendees.”
Outbound destinations including Italy, Russia, Seychelles, Mauritius, France, Reunion, Turkey, Thailand and India were present to meet and encourage outbound travel specialists to package their countries. Presentations in the Outbound Conference Theatre offered insight into global travel trends pertinent to outbound travel.
Closing on a high, with two days still to go, Marchesi believes that 2017 will undoubtedly be best year yet for WTM Africa: “We’re looking forward to the next two days spent at the Cape Town International Conference Centre. Trade members that would still like to attend are able to register on-site at WTM Africa to ensure they don’t miss out on what promises to be an incredible show!”
The second day of WTM Africa 2017 promises just as many not-to-be-missed events including the African Responsible Tourism Awards, ibtm africa and a focus on the potential of sports tourism in Africa.
The Media Speed Networking will offer an exclusive opportunity to exhibitors at WTM Africa 2017 the chance to network with prominent media partners in attendance.
For highlights from WTM Africa 2017, visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. Join in the conversation online using the hashtag #WTMA17.
For more information or any media related questions relating to WTM Africa, please contact RedLip PR:
Robyn Elford
robyn@redlip.co.za
+27 83 460 5751
Casey van Niekerk
casey@redlip.co.za
+27 82 214 7582
ENDS
Notes to editors
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is a leading global player in the world of exhibitions and part of RELX Group, one of South Africa’s largest and most successful business events companies. Reed Exhibitions brings over 50 years of experience in developing, marketing, selling and organising exhibitions, events, conferences and meetings.
About World Travel Market
World Travel Market (WTM) portfolio comprises of six leading B2B events across four continents generating more than $7bn of industry deals. The six events are: WTM London; Arabian Travel Market (ATM); World Travel Market Latin America; World Travel Market Africa; WTM Connect Asia and International Golf Travel Market (IGTM).
About Africa Travel Week
Africa Travel Week comprises three co-located shows – WTM Africa, ibtm africa and ILTM Africa – encompassing Africa’s inbound and outbound markets for general leisure travel, luxury tourism, and the MICE/business travel sector under RTE’s established portfolios of WTM (World Travel Market), ILTM (International Luxury Travel Market) and IBTM (Incentives, Business Travel & Meetings).
Dates for Africa Travel Week (#africatravelweek) 2017 are: 19 – 23 April 2017
About World Travel Market Africa World Travel Market Africa launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. Nearly 5,000 travel industry professionals attend Africa’s leading inbound and outbound travel and tourism market. WTM Africa delivers a proven mix of hosted buyers, media, pre-scheduled appointments, on-site networking, evening functions and invited travel trade visitors. http://africa.wtm.com/ Next event: 19-21 April 2017.