INDABA 2011

The ICC floor at INDABA

Whoever said INDABA was big was lying; it is huge.

As Africa’s largest travel and tourism show, with 1,600 exhibiting products, INDABA 2011 expects to attract some 13,000 delegates from across the continent and the globe.  

This year’s event, which runs from 7-10 May at the International Convention Centre in Durban, comes on the back of a year which saw visitor numbers to South Africa increase by 15.1 per cent on the year before, with more than 8 million tourists arriving into the country.

“We’re here because we want what everybody else wants: more business,” Kapama Private Game Reserve general manager and exhibitor Johan Van Eeden told e-Travel Blackboard, ironically adding that people noticed if you weren’t at the event.   

First-time exhibitor Paul Backes of new conference venue The Blades said INDABA was the place to “make yourself known” and he was so far very impressed with the size and organisation of the event.

“It really opens your mind to how big this industry is,” Mr Backes said.

Showcasing an array of southern African tourism products ranging from hotels and safari companies to transport and technology, INDABA 2011 will introduce the INDABA TV platform and the South African Tourism digital touch table, allowing users to interact with each other whilst viewing information on destination products.         

“Africa is absolutely unique … and INDABA is the best way to attract buyers,” domestic buyer Anthony Botes of Bohlale Safari & Golf Tours said, telling e-Travel Blackboard there had already been a “positive reaction” from this year’s delegates. 

INDABA veteran and exhibitor turned buyer Deon Jacobs of Place of Rock Game Drives echoed these sentiments, saying the event represented a vital networking opportunity and that “you had to be here” if you were in the tourism industry.

The theme for INDABA 2011 is “Playing Globally, Winning Locally”.