Smooth Sailing At Indaba 2008

13 February, 2008

Story and Picture By Peter Bendheim

Indaba, now the world’s third largest travel and tourism event, has taken place in Durban for 18 years and by now the city has developed a reputation for staging the four day extravaganza in a professional, well-organised manner. With over 12 000 delegates from all over the globe, Indaba has seen growth in foreign visitors to the show and the number of exhibitors of tourism products. The event fills the entire International Convention Centre, and sprawls across Walnut Road into the Durban Exhibition Centre, which is equally, populated with a seemingly endless number of hotels, game lodges and luxury getaways.

This year, although the event was themed around the 2010 Soccer World Cup, there was surprisingly little in the way of soccer in evidence at the various stands, and even the host city stands were somewhat muted in using 2010 as a marketing lure. Perhaps the almost impossibly strict branding requirements of FIFA are in part responsible for the lack of an overall football feel to the event.

Indaba is trades show where large-scale buyers of tourism products are put in touch with the huge variety of tourism goods and services available across Southern Africa. By seeing what is on offer, buyers are able to negotiate deals with service providers and this hopefully means more visitors and increased interest in Southern Africa in the months leading up to 2010.

The ripple effects of Indaba are huge, translating into hundreds of thousands of new tourist arrivals over the next 12 months, which given the slowing economy, represents an important means of bringing foreign spending into the economy.

The Durban stand, doubled in size compared to previous years, visually reflected the variety the city has to offer, and according to staffers was a hive of activity. “We have been very busy meeting with a variety of tour operators and travel business people from around the world,” said acting CEO of Durban Tourism, Perry Moodley. “We are really pleased with the feedback we have had from delegates about the city, and excited by some of the future prospects on offer.” As a major 2010 host city, an artists impression of Durban’s 2010 stadium wason display at the Durban stand. Head of Strategic Projects, Julie-May Ellingson, hosted a special media briefing during Indaba to update the press and other interested parties on progress to date down at the stadium site.

Most delegates to Indaba have been extremely positive around the event and world-class standards of the ICC and Arena. This comes at the same time as the ICC was awarded the title of Africa’s best Convention Centre, one it had lost last year. “Delegates got to enjoy a smooth sailing event, eat at a variety of venues and get on with their business. But behind the scenes there have been months of planning to ensure that all has run smoothly,” says Moodley. He also thanked the police for their role in ensuring the success of Indaba. “There has been huge involvement from both the City and the South African Police Services in ensuring the safety of our 12 000 delegates. We thank them for their commitment and teamwork.”

Not all however, was completely rosy at Indaba. At a nearby Nepad meeting involving top tourism officials and high level government officials from African nations, Indaba was criticised for billing itself as Africa’s largest travel show but at the same time excluding 95 percent of African countries other than South Africa. “It’s a showcase for South Africa and nothing more,” said Tom Amolo, High Commissioner of the Republic of Kenya.

Back at the event itself, several delegates and tourism officials from KZN were critical of the South African Tourism stand, which was plastered with images of Cape Town and the Western Cape, but did not feature a single Durban image. “It’s typical of SA Tourism’s approach to Durban,” said one official. “We need to get South African Tourism to look beyond Cape Town and the game reserves as South Africa’s only tourism assets.”

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