“There is more to South Africa than Cape Town and the Kruger National Park and more needs to be done to promote South Africa as a destination.”
These were the words of Deputy Minister of Tourism, Fish Mahlalela, at the media launch of the Africa Travel Indaba at The Bat Centre in Durban on Tuesday, April 23.
The Africa Travel Indaba will take place from May 13 to 16 at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.
The launch event was attended by KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs, Siboniso Duma; eThekwini councillor Thembubuhle Ntuli; South African Tourism chair, Makhosazana Khanyile; Tourism KwaZulu-Natal board members; CEO of South African Tourism, Nombulelo Guliwe; Tourism Business Council CEO, Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa and stakeholders in the travel and tourism industry.
With less than a month to the official event, Mahlalela said that Africa Travel Indaba is a great platform to market South Africa and showcase the continent’s unlimited potential after he received feedback from European source markets that South Africa was not doing enough to market the whole country as a destination.
“We should be doing more. We have not tapped substantially into what South Africa is able to offer,” said the deputy minister.
Mahlalela said that the country has been marketed as if it only has two destinations, Cape Town and the Kruger National Park, however, they want to move away from how they’ve been marketing South Africa and show the variety of tourism offerings that are uniquely in each and every province.
“When we are able to market the country holistically in its totality, we will be able to draw as many tourists as possible. It is true that we are not marketing enough.
“We need to pick up our socks and make sure that we do some marketing in a manner that is able to show the products, that as a country we are able to offer the diversity that we are able to offer because we are uniquely South Africans.
“We have unique products that you can’t find anywhere in the continent and we have not been marketing those in a manner that makes the world see value in them and travel to South Africa,” he said.
He said that the Indaba is the continent’s premier travel and tourism tradeshow and a critical platform for showcasing Africa’s diversity and fostering collaboration among its nations.
“This year’s Africa Travel Indaba theme is ‘Unlimited Africa’ emphasising the vast array of experiences and products available across the continent. Africa’s Travel Indaba provides a perfect platform to showcase all we offer,” said Mahlalalela.