A WELCOME RETURN TO IN PERSON TOURISM TRADE PROMOTIONS

NMB represented at SATSA AGM, WTM Africa and Africas Travel Indaba 2022

Nelson Mandela Bay was recently represented at Southern African Travel Services Association (SATSA) conference 7 to 9 April 2022, World Travel Market (WTM) Trade Show in Cape Town from11 April to 13 April 2022 and Africas Travel Indaba in Durban from 3 to 5 May 2022. Nelson Mandela Bay was represented in person at these trade platforms by the department of Economic Development Tourism and Agriculture Department (EDTA) as well as various private sector businesses. This is a welcome return to in person meetings allowing for tourism stakeholders to network, engage and form much needed working relationships.

The Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) is a member-driven association that offers inbound tourism services companies the highest level of quality in the tourism industry. It represents the top tourism products and travel intermediaries in Southern Africa and is a key partner for EDTA in growing not only the visitor numbers to the city but also international exposure and awareness for the destination.  World Travel Market Africa is one of the leading B2B exhibition for the inbound and outbound African travel & tourism markets. Through its industry networks, global reach and regional focus, WTM Africa creates personal and business opportunities providing our customers with quality contacts, content and communities. Africa’s Travel Indaba is one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar and one of the top three ‘must visit’ events of its kind on the global calendar. It showcases the widest variety of Africa's best tourism products and attracts international buyers and media from across the world. Africa’s Travel Indaba is owned by South African Tourism and organised by Synergy Business Events (Pty) Ltd.

The distribution element (Place) of the marketing mix is vastly different for marketers of tourism services than for consumer goods. Tourism distribution traditionally concerns the development and communication of package offerings through travel trade intermediaries, such as wholesalers, airlines and travel agents. EDTA is responsible amongst others for the promotion of the destination to national and international tourism trade and attends various international and national trade promotion platforms. 

Usually having no products to sell, the DMO’s role is one of information broker, connecting and liaising between constituent tourism service providers and travel trade intermediaries. Many travel trade events are cost-prohibitive for individual tourism businesses, and so the DMO acts as the umbrella organisation to bring interested stakeholders together. Arguably, the most effective means of stimulating meaningful dialogue with customers, in this case travel trade, is personal selling. 

EDTA through our partnership with the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA) continued to combine our forces at these shows. EDTA had a sharing agreement to attend WTM Africa and the Africas Tourism Indaba. A special focus at this year was to meet with Destination Management Companies (DMC’s) as well as Inbound Tour Operators in order to negotiate the inclusion of NMB in their itineraries and to reinforce working relationships. When scheduling meetings EDTA considered its strategic objectives and scheduled meetings accordingly. Apart from meeting with new and existing trade buyers EDTA also met with its strategic governmental and other industry partners including travel media, airlines. The shows also offer access to key market insights and strategy discussion sessions. 

Some key takeaways after the attending include that Nelson Mandela Bay's constant presence allows us to continue and grow our relationships with Destination Management Companies and Operators. This has proven to be vital as we have seen the value of relationships in affecting change in itineraries. Working with certain DMC’s allow EDTA to understand the different market groups each DMC deals with and how to attract and make the city more appealing to their markets. These things cannot be changed overnight and requires constant interactions with the same partners. Product training and new product developments need to be shared with Trade and there was a sense of positiveness with regards to what we have to offer. Post Covid some DMC’s have started selling Domestic Packages and there is an increase in demand for cost effective and quality products to sell to the local market. Overall it is vital that destination Nelson Mandela Bay continues to take part at these travel trade platforms especially with regards to the presence of DMC’s as well as the large amount of outbound operators selling and promotion travel to South Africa that are present.