Inspiring, well organised and impressed are among some of the words buyers, visitors and exhibitors have been using to describe the inaugural World Travel Market (WTM) Africa event that took place from 02 to 03 May at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
With over 350 exhibiting companies bringing the world to Africa and promoting Africa to the world’s leading source markets and attendance meeting expectations, WTM Africa has been praised for the quality of its international buyers, superb organisation and excellent conference content – sentiments to which Tourism Tattler, as a Media Partner to WTM Africa, whole heartedly concurs.
“This has been the best show we’ve attended. We are networking with quality buyers and have over 500 appointments over the two days. We’ve even had a few go-shows already,” says Mark Collins, CEO Dreams4Africa.
Sure Maritime Travel Manager Rachael Penaluna says the show has been inspiring from a professional and personal standpoint. “It has been so well structured, I knew who I need to meet and network with prior to the show and it’s been great to touch base with destinations like Nigeria. The product on show has also been extremely relevant and the networking has been great.”
The daily Speed Networking event aimed at introducing exhibitors to the right buyers for their business has yielded unexpected results for specialist Asian operator Khiri Travel. “We liked the Speed Networking event and even managed to get a few leads before WTM Africa actually started,” says Manager Jack Bartholomew. “The quality of buyers has been good and the event well organised.”
The conference and events programme which included sessions on business, technology, responsible tourism and the very trendy topic of travel blogging drew above-expected attendance. The line-up of events appealed to a broad spectrum of travel professionals, ensuring that everyone attending the show finds something of interest.
“I’ve the found the session of events quite good,” says Chana Boucher, Travel News Weekly Cape Representative.
Hosted Buyer Petra Molnarova, Voyages Private Czech Republic has praised the variety of product exhibited, saying: “WTM Afica has been very useful so far. The exhibitors are those I would market in my country, I’ve made good contacts and it has been very well organised. The Hosted Buyer Zone is fantastic!”
To find out more about the WTM Africa visit www.wtmafrica.com.
We also like WTM Africa’s facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wtmafrica and join us on twitter using: @WTM_Africa and #wtmafrica.
