Africa Travel Week (ATW) will host international buyers and media at the Connect the City Live event in Cape Town during Tourism Month (September), for a first-hand experience of all the Mother City has to offer.

The three-day event, from 1-3 September, is exclusive to exhibitors who were a part of ATW Virtual and to a selection of hosted buyers and media who will undergo an application process in the coming weeks. It will comprise:

• Familiarisation tours where ATW Virtual exhibitors can invite international buyers to experience their products first-hand.
• 15-minute time slots in which exhibitors can educate buyers about their products and destination.
• A travel and tourism conference with a speaker programme of industry thought leaders and experts.
• Speed networking sessions where buyers are split according to region and product interests.

• The African Travel & Tourism Awards, with a special category recognising COVID-19 campaigns that focus on reigniting travel.

Delegates will have the opportunity to stay at The Vineyard, Newlands. “The Vineyard Hotel is excited to partner with ATW and to be celebrating the start of spring in Cape Town and Tourism Month with Hosted Buyers in our gardens,” says Vineyard Hotel MD, Roy Davies.

“We were delighted with the connections that were forged during the recent virtual WTM Africa and ILTM Africa and are looking forward to bringing key tourism stakeholders together in September to experience Cape Town first-hand,” says Megan Oberholzer, Portfolio Director: Travel, Tourism & Creative Industries for Reed Exhibitions South Africa.

Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Dan Plato, says ATW is the perfect platform for the city to showcase to the international market how its tourism sector has adapted to the times and improved on its already world-class offerings.