Less than a week after the successful hosting of the 17th edition of Meetings Africa 2024, South African Tourism is leading a delegation – which includes 63 tourism product and service providers – to showcase Destination South Africa at ITB in Berlin.
The global trade show – held under the theme ‘Pioneer the Transition in Travel & Tourism. Together’ – kicks off tomorrow (Tuesday, March 5) and runs until Thursday (March 7).
In line with the theme, the SA delegation is heading to Berlin with a united show of force and re-enforcement of the collaborative spirit that saw the sector welcome 8.5 million international tourists between January and December 2023.
“We are going to ITB 2024 as one ‘Team South Africa’ comprised of a wide variety of products and experiences. We have put the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and we are pioneering our transition by ensuring that we showcase our exceptional tourism offering and indeed improve South Africa’s brand appeal and inspire travellers to choose to book and come visit South Africa,” said South African Tourism CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe.
ITB Berlin is one of the leading global travel trade platforms for tourism products, services and packaged offerings, and will see around 10 000 exhibitors from over 180 countries and more than 114 000 trade visitors engage on the trade floor over the three-day event.
“The last few years have been tough for global travel and tourism as the world was gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic. All the changes that have occurred in the past few years have significantly impacted on how we live our lives, interact and socialise and, of course, how we engage in other economic and leisure activities,” said Guliwe.
“This has been nothing short of evolutionary and has required that we transition into the new norm. As ‘Team South Africa’ we go to ITB driven by our passion to market our country and to find the best partners that will partner with us in our transition and ensure that we position our country as the best tourism destination in the world.”
SME participation
As part of its incentive programmes to support tourism businesses the Department of Tourism will support 15 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to exhibit on the South African Tourism stand at this year’s ITB Berlin.
The support offered under this incentives programme typically covers key cost elements associated with exhibition participation such as return economy airfare, exhibition costs, accommodation, ground transport and shipping of exhibiting materials.
“These international platforms provide a massive opportunity for South African tourism businesses to market Destination South Africa to the world and tell people our unique stories and experience,” said Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille.
The 15 SMEs approved for support to participate and exhibit at ITB Berlin this year represent tourism businesses in the accommodation, travel and related services sub-sectors across eight of the nine provinces.
De Lille highlighted that the investment by the Department of Tourism amounted to around R2.8 million (€134 365) in combined support for the 15 small enterprises, which is likely to result in between R15 million (€719 790) and R20 million (€959 565) in additional revenue and foreign exchange earnings for South Africa over the next year.
‘Destination SA Showcase’
Part of the engagements for Team South Africa at ITB 2024 include a Destination South Africa Showcase in the form of media panel discussion on the first day of the trade show. This will be followed by a trade and media engagement session specifically tailored to afford all the South African SMEs maximum networking opportunities with these important partners.
Throughout the trade show, there will also be meetings with existing established partners as well as new potential partners, all to ensure that South Africa is the destination of choice for travellers from various markets. To further drive networking opportunities there will also be a showcase of some South African wines at the South Africa stand.
“We are looking forward to reconnecting with our long-standing partners while also forging new connections at this year’s ITB Berlin. Our country has what travellers are looking for. Our tourism products also allow them to travel more responsibly so they can make a positive impact and contribute to the preservation of our planet. Through the work that we do with our partners, we can package and promote South Africa,” said Guliwe.
While ITB Belin is a global trade show, it cannot be denied that the slant is more towards Europe, given its location. Europe remains a primary source of overseas tourists for South Africa. Between January and December 2023, South Africa saw 1.2 million tourist arrivals from Europe, a 38.2% increase compared with the same period in 2022.
The United Kingdom remains the top European source market with 356 160 tourists choosing South Africa, marking a 25.8% growth compared with 2022. Germany experienced a 41.6% increase in arrivals compared with 2022, amounting to 24 259 tourists. This was followed by the Netherlands which saw an increase of 45.5% when compared with 2022, amounting to 131 371 tourist arrivals between January and December 2023.
South Africa will be exhibiting at Hall number 20 at stand 201 at ITB Berlin.
