Africa Travel Week has decided to cancel the planned Connect in the City Live event in Cape Town in September.
Exclusive to ATW virtual exhibitors and a selection of hosted buyers, the live event in Cape Town would have brought stakeholders and media together for an on-the-ground taste of the best the Mother City had to offer, including familiarisation tours and a dedicated conference.
“It was an extremely difficult decision but one that we felt had to be made sooner rather than later so that we minimised any inconvenience to participants,” said Megan Oberholzer, Reed Exhibitions South Africa Portfolio Director: Travel, Tourism & Creative Industries.
“There really is nothing we had hoped for more than to host this live event, however with the environment remaining fluid, the ongoing third COVID wave and the uncertainty as to when South Africa will be removed from ‘red lists’ and travel advisories around the world, we believe that making a decisive decision now will be in the best interests of our guests,” Oberholzer added.
“As the City of Cape Town, we were looking forward to welcoming international buyers and media to our shores for this crucial live event which would have contributed towards reviving the tourism sector, which has been heavily impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to work with national and the provincial government to put measures in place to ensure that we can soon host these important international events in a much safer environment,” commented Cape Town Executive Mayor, Dan Plato.
Africa Travel Week has confirmed that it will go ahead with hosting its series of virtual masterclasses and events, including a China Market Outlook, ‘How the Pandemic has changed our priorities in terms of Animal Welfare and Tourism’; and ‘Marketing, influencers and blogging - what is worth it?’.
While the gala African Travel & Tourism Awards event that was part of the Connect in the City Live programme will no longer be held, entries for Africa Travel Week’s Reigniting Africa Award remain open until the end of June for COVID-19 campaigns that focus on reigniting travel.
