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India Outbound has the pleasure to present you a unique section on its flagship website dedicated to Africa travel news and a monthly B2B newsletter focusing on the promotion of travel & tourism development in African countries for the Indian travel trade. This initiative is the first of its kind in the Indian market and we look forward to provide timely and accurate information on Africa and contribute to a better understanding and knowledge of the continent that is often a victim of bias, clichés and other false information.

Meetings Africa 2020 presents business opportunities in Africa

Meetings Africa 2020 took place from February 25-26 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg and brought together stakeholders within the business events and tourism industries.

Under the theme, “Shared economies”, Meetings Africa looked at collaborative African growth, connecting people and ideas, and the continent’s value proposition within the global economy. In his trade floor opening address, South African Tourism CEO, Sisa Ntshona, said one of the key objectives of Meetings Africa is to encourage and stimulate the rotation of meetings on the continent. “It is a platform for the regional business events industry to engage in a bid to attract more global and regional business events to Africa.”

This year’s event had 329 exhibitors and 321 buyers that include 205 international hosted buyers, and held nearly 8,000 meetings. Nonnie Kubeka, the head of the Gauteng Convention & Events Bureau, said that the quality of buyers invited to this year’s Meetings Africa was high. “What was exciting with the buyers themselves is that they gave request for proposals that are between 2024 and 2028. So we have to go back and work very hard to bring together all the information that they require for them to make a decision to bring their events to Gauteng.”

For Kubeka, Meetings Africa gave her group the opportunity to showcase less popular destinations such as Cradle of Humankind, Sedibeng and Ekurhuleni. Additionally, most of the buyers Gauteng had met were first-time visitors to South Africa. “Their expectations were met because they were not expecting the infrastructure they had seen.”

South Africa Tourism releases industry update on coronavirus situation

The South African tourism board has released an update and their plans focussed on the effect of coronavirus on the sector. The government is currently implementing a formal, inter-sectoral plan to ensure their readiness, optimisation of resources and capability within the country in the event of a case of Covid-19. This includes a countrywide network of health facilities, the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) which is able to perform diagnostic testing and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) with its highly qualified staff, extensive sophisticated laboratory systems and emergency operations centre.

Africa’s Travel Indaba 2020, one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar to be held on May 12-14 is to go ahead as scheduled. However, with constant developments on a daily basis, SAT will continue to keep industry stakeholders updated on any changes affecting the event.

While South Africa has not experienced any case of COVID-19, the modifications being witnessed in business and leisure travel behaviour against the backdrop of the global outbreak of the virus, they are taking the opportunity to remodel how travel trade shows are delivered. By leveraging the power of digital technologies, they can deliver digitally enabled meaningful trade experiences for buyers and delegates and unlock Africa's opportunity to lead in digital trade show hosting.

Jamaica Tourism Board unveils new brand positioning of destination

The Jamaica Tourist Board unveiled 'JAMAICA, Heartbeat of the World' as the new destination brand positioning, recognising Jamaica's outsized influence on the world. Strengthening the island's position as a global culturally relevant brand, ‘Heartbeat of the World’ extends beyond tourism and encompasses all elements of Jamaica's rich and vibrant culture including music, cuisine, sports, adventure, nature and wellness.

"We are excited to launch 'Heartbeat of the World,' which reinforces our position as a global leader among travel destinations and establishes Jamaica as the single destination every traveller must experience," said Donovan White, Jamaica's director of tourism.

"On the map, Jamaica may seem like a small dot in the Caribbean Sea. But her influence on the world culture is the size of a continent. We are a cultural giant and we continue to have an indelible impact on the world's food, music, sport, and literature while offering larger-than-life bucket list experiences with extraordinary, talented people,” he added.

Nigeria & Tanzania tourism come together for African Tourism Board

The African Tourism Board had a consultative visit with the United Republic of Tanzanian High Commission in Nigeria and held high-level discussion with Benson Alfred Baba, the high commissioner, and Elias Nwandobo, counsellor to the Commission. The discourse underpinned the promotion and facilitation of tourism products of both Nigeria and Tanzania.

As part of the discussions, proposals for Tanzania/Nigeria Travel Week 2020 were set forth, which will project Tanzania as the indisputable home of the Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and the Serengeti, and Nigeria as the two world’s largest black nation. The event will also host tour operators, travel and tourism professionals, airlines, hotels, stakeholders, buyers, media, tourists. The United Republic of Tanzania High Commission and the African Tourism Board are quite looking forward to the dividends of this productive partnership and the positive results it can portray for both countries and Africa as a whole.

Morocco plans new roadmap to boost tourism

The tourist arrival to Morocco has seen a growth of 5.2 pc between 2018 and 2019 as it recorded 13 million tourists, as revealed by the National Confederation of Tourism (CNT). They presented the 2020 roadmap for tourism which aims to make Morocco an authentic destination “offering a diversity of experiences to share.”

The main action of the plan revolves mainly around the public-private partnership, creation of a tourism academy, digital development, regulation of the sector and promotion of internal tourism. The roadmap will also provide support to SMEs to go digital, reorganising the Tourism Observatory and improving the observation and the analysis system.

CNT president Abdellatif Kabbaj while addressing journalists in Marrakech said French tourists remain the largest group of visitors to Morocco, with around 1.99 million French nationals visiting the country in 2019. The number of nights spent in Morocco’s tourist accommodation has also increased by 5 pc between 2018 and 2019.

Strengthening air transport and investing in infrastructure are the keys to promote Morocco as a tourist destination, said Kabbaj.

    
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