South African tourism accelerates growth at ITB 2023
As global travel industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic setback, and travellers back to exploring the world, the South Africa Tourism (SAT) was at the just concluded Internationale Tourisms-Borse (ITB) to accelerate the growth in the sector.
The event, which took place in Berlin, Germany between March 7 and 9, 2023, was tagged Open For Change. As the national tourism agency responsible for the marketing of South Africa as a preferred tourist destination, SAT once again participated at the 2023 ITB live comeback, after three years of pandemic-related trade fair restrictions.
More than ever, sustainable travel is a fast-growing trend. With its diverse range of unique tourism experiences including breath-taking scenery, safari, history, and cultural experiences as well as quality-assured accommodation establishments, South Africa is well poised to cater for various traveller needs.
Deputy Minister of Tourism, Fish Mahlalela said: We came to ITB 2023 as a powerful team armed with a wide variety of products and experiences and these will certainly go a long way in improving South Africa’s brand appeal and of course contribute to getting more travellers to book to come visit South Africa.”
Also speaking, South African Tourism, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Nomasonto Ndlovu, said, “at a time when the world is fully plugged back in to travel, after the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are looking for wide open spaces, travelling more responsibly and making a positive impact to contribute to the preservation of our planet. Through our Live Again campaign, we have used the incredible ITB platform to show that South Africa does indeed offer this and more.”
Ndlovu continued: “The last few years have been tough for global travel and tourism, but we survived through it and now that we can all travel freely again, South Africa is focused on placing the country as a choice destination for all travellers. As ‘Team South Africa’, we attend ITB as a formidable collective that is passionate about marketing our country and finding the best partners that will ensure that we optimally and efficiently position our country as the best tourism destination in the world.”
SAT’s COO, however, emphasised on the importance of Europe as a key region for the country. “This year’s ITB for us was also to reconnect with our long-standing partners while also forging new connections. We value all the work that our key partners do in helping package and promote South Africa.
We continue with our message to the world that we are indeed open for business and ready to welcome tourists from all over the world.” Joining the South Africa delegation, led by Honourable Deputy Minister of Tourism, Fish Mahlalela are 45 tourism products and services, including small tourism businesses and emerging entrepreneurs from across nine provinces, representing the unique and culturally diverse SAT offering exhibited at the fair. The Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME’s) also showcased their proudly South African offerings to top decision-makers and experts who attended ITB from various parts of the world.
The engagements for ‘Team South Africa’ at ITB 2023 include a media panel discussion on the first day of the trade show – Tuesday, March 7. The focus of this press conference was a showcase of South Africa’s products and experiences as well as highlighting South Africa’s sustainable and responsible tourism products. This was followed by a trade and media roundtable event on the second day of the show. The focus of this discussion was South Africa’s attractiveness for tourism investment. Also, there were media and trade networking events throughout the duration of ITB 2023.
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