South Africa has seen a significant increase in the demand for outbound travel trade exhibitions. Says Chardonnay Marchesi, general manager of Africa Travel Week, “Travel agents and tour operators are constantly under pressure to provide new and exciting destinations, hotels and experiences for their clients, and WTM Africa is the ideal platform to provide access to these.”
An exclusive 2016 study conducted by Grant Thornton in partnership with WTM Africa, concluded that there were upwards of five million outbound travellers from South Africa in 2015, inclusive of a 7,6% increase in air departures throughout the year. These travellers made trips to familiar destinations including USA, Australia, Britain, Germany and Indonesia amongst others.
When estimating the outbound leisure market through travel agency and wholesale sales, the study uncovered that travellers using travel trade channels to book their trips totalled between 200,000 and 250,000. More insights and statistics on from this research is to be revealed at WTM Africa 2017 in a new session taking place in the Outbound Theatre on 20 April at 10.30am.
“To better assist in developing travel trade selling outbound destination to South Africans, WTM Africa is constantly adding international exhibitors and content to its portfolio for the exhibition,” says Marchesi.
Marchesi furthers that WTM Africa 2017 will see the introduction of an outbound pavilion that will allow international destinations a space to market to outbound travel trade in attendance. The pavilion will be sectioned into desktop setup areas for destinations that will allow exhibitors to host meetings with their contacts and do business.
