Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism takes a bite out of the Big Apple

Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) recently attended the New York Travel Show in New York City at the invitation of the Eastern Cape Tourism Board. This presented NMBT with an excellent opportunity to market Nelson Mandela Bay as a preferred tourist destination to an ideal target market. The USA has been identified as one of the top two markets showing interest in South Africa in terms of the 2010 Fifa World Cup ticket sales. The New York Travel Show also presented NMBT with the opportunity of identifying gaps in their marketing efforts and to start planning strategically for tourism after the forthcoming World Cup.

NMBT were able to meet with various travel agents and tour operators in New York, including Fraser Teasdale of Somak Holidays (USA) and Christine Ajudua, assistant editor of Africa, Travel and Leisure, and Jena Tess Fox, African editor of Travel Agent Magazine. Other highlights included attending the New York Times Travel Show where NMBT had the opportunity to meet with various key media players as well as network with important tourism contacts. The biggest highlight, however, was an invitation to present at the Association for the Promotion of Tourism to Africa (APTA) dinner. The Deputy Minister of South African Tourism, Ms Tokozile Xasa, spoke on behalf of Nelson Mandela Bay and the Eastern Cape, and was the only speaker to be invited to present at the event.

“We have had such a positive outcome from the New York Travel Show as it has given us the opportunity to meet with key players in the industry. We learnt that it is still a challenge to sell the destination as Nelson Mandela Bay as many tourists as well as travel agents and tour operators are not yet familiar with the name. NMBT is working towards a media tour for international media through which they can become familiar with the area and become foreign ambassadors for our beautiful city,” said Titus Chuene, Marketing Manager of NMBT.