WTM Africa 2023, the leading travel and tourism event in Africa, has officially opened its doors on 03 April 2023.
The show is back to pre-pandemic numbers with over 5,000 registrations, almost 600 exhibitors, 49 new countries, 200 expert speakers and over 80 hours of content sessions. The event also has 9,200 pre-scheduled appointments, a 35% increase compared to last year. Over 63% of the buyers this year are new and come from exciting markets such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines, Romania, Armenia, San Marino and Uzbekistan
Opening the show, Patricia De Lille, Minister of Tourism, expressed her excitement about the tourism industry’s recovery, saying, “We are all ready to come back with a bang. And we’ve already started coming back.” She stressed that the tourism sector has a major role to play in South Africa and said: “I can feel the opportunity in tourism. In my new role, I will focus on implementation, as it is time for us to now walk the talk.”
Eddie Andrews, Deputy Mayor of Cape Town, emphasized the importance of tourism for the Host City of Cape Town, saying, ” We believe in the possibility of Africa. As tourism is an economic driver for Cape Town, we are building a city of hope. Our aim is to create a tourism-related job in every single household. People want to hear stories, and Africa has many stories to tell.”
Carol Weaving, Managing Director of RX Africa, highlighted the statistics when she said: “WTM starts today. We have 577 exhibitors, 9,200 pre-scheduled appointments. We are back and ready to do business. Sixty-six per cent of buyers are brand new from new markets like Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Pakistan, Romania and Bangladesh. The repeat buyers are from our key source markets.”
Mark Sham, founder of Suits & Sneakers and a speaker at WTM Africa 2023, urged attendees to have fun, go up to each other and truly connect. He said: “We’re back! I will never forget when we couldn’t connect and will never take it for granted again. In Africa, we sit on the most amazing potential.”
Alongside the opportunity to meet and network, a highlight for many of the international, regional and local buyers includes the release of WTM Africa’s annual Trends Report, which takes a closer look at the biggest trends shaping travel in Africa today. With WTM Africa returning to pre-pandemic numbers and exceeding them, the event serves as a beacon of hope for the tourism industry in Africa, and its impact on the economy is immeasurable.
World Travel Market (WTM) Portfolio comprises leading travel events, online portals and virtual platforms across four continents. The events are:
WTM Latin America takes place annually in the city of São Paulo and attracts around 20,000 tourism professionals during the three-day event. The event offers qualified content together with networking and business opportunities. In this its tenth edition – there have been nine face-to-face events along with a 100% virtual one, which was held in 2021.
Next event: Monday 3 to Wednesday 5 April 2023 – Expo Center Norte, São Paulo, Brazil
WTM Africa launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa under the Africa Travel Week umbrella. In 2022, WTM Africa facilitated more than 7 thousand unique pre-scheduled appointments, an increase of more than 7% compared to 2019 and welcomed more than 6 thousand visitors (unaudited), the same number as in 2019.
Next event: Monday 3 to Wednesday 5 April 2023 – Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town
About ATW Connect: Africa Travel Week’s digital arm, is a virtual hub packed to the seams with interesting content, industry news and insights, and the opportunity to hear from experts on a variety of topics in our new monthly webinar series. All with the aim to keep all of us in the travel and tourism industry connected. ATW Connect focuses on inbound and outbound markets for general leisure tourism, luxury travel, LGBTQ+ travel and the MICE/business travel sector as well as travel technology.
Arabian Travel Market (ATM), now on its 30th year, is the leading, international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. Arabian Travel Market is part of Arabian Travel Week. #IdeasArriveHere
Next event: Monday 1 to Thursday 4 May 2023, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai
https://www.wtm.com/atm/en-gb.html
Arabian Travel Week is a is a 10-day long festival of events taking place within and alongside Arabian Travel Market 2023. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector, it includes the live ATM exhibition, ILTM Arabia, ARIVAL Dubai, Influencers’ events and activations, as well as Travel Forward. It also features the ATM Buyer Forums, ATM Speed Networking Events as well as Business Traveller Africa Awards 2023.
Arabian Travel Week takes place from 1 – 10 May 2023
https://www.wtm.com/arabian-travel-week/en-gb.html
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. The show facilitates business connections for the global (leisure) travel community. Senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media visit ExCeL London every November, generating travel industry contracts.
Next live event: Monday 6-8 November 2023 at ExCel London
WTM Global Hub, is the new WTM Portfolio online portal created to connect and support travel industry professionals around the world. The resource hub offers the latest guidance and knowledge to help exhibitors, buyers and others in the travel industry face the challenges of the global coronavirus pandemic. WTM Portfolio is tapping into its global network of experts to create content for the hub. https://hub.wtm.com/
About RX
RX is in the business of building businesses for individuals, communities and organisations. We elevate the power of face-to-face events by combining data and digital products to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 400 events in 22 countries across 43 industry sectors. RX is passionate about making a positive impact on society and is fully committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all our people. RX is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.rxglobal.com
RELX About RELX
RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs over 33,000 people, of whom almost half are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX. The market capitalisation is approximately £33bn, €39bn, $47bn.*
*Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at http://www.relx.com/investors
