Africa’s Travel Indaba: A great opportunity to unlock tourism's full potential

The Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, will attend the annual Africa’s Travel Indaba, in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal on 10 and 11 May 2023, which provides a global platform for the promotion of Southern African tourism products.

Africa’s Travel Indaba is one of the largest tourism marketing events which showcases a wide and impressive variety of the best tourism products on the continent, attracting international buyers and media from across the world. 

Minister Wenger will also have the opportunity to attend the first meeting between the new National Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, and all nine provincial ministers of tourism.

Minister Wenger said: “The tourism and hospitality sector contributes significantly to the economy of the Western Cape, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs. Africa’s Travel Indaba is a great opportunity for the province to showcase our destination and I look forward to meeting with key stakeholders to discuss how we can work together to further unlock the full potential of this exciting sector.”

The Western Cape’s stand at the Indaba will be supported by the province’s official trade, investment, and tourism promotion agency, Wesgro, which will facilitate a pavilion for public and private sector exhibitors, including Local and Regional Tourism Offices from around the Western Cape as well as their tourism products.

Key to unlocking the full job-creating potential of tourism is creating an enabling environment for the sector to flourish. To achieve this, we need to:

• Make it easier for visitors to travel to South Africa and the Western Cape through improved air access;
• Advance the brand of our destination to ensure the country and the Western Cape are top of mind for more travellers, from more places;
• Remove obstacles that may prevent travel, including addressing visitor concerns over safety, reforming our VISA regime to make us more accessible, and addressing lingering challenges with respect to tourism transport licensing;
• Unlock new types of travellers, through the introduction of a Digital Nomad VISA, for example;
• Plan for the growth that we expect by investing in key infrastructure, such as the expansion of both Cape Town International Airport and George Airport to keep pace with demand; and
• Address the skills shortage that the tourism and hospitality sector recorded as a result of the pandemic, helping more people gain employment in this industry.

“I look forward to meeting with tourism stakeholders as well as private sector representatives to discuss ways to boost tourism and I am confident that by working together, and in partnership with the private sector, we can achieve each one of these goals, boosting growth and job creation in the Western Cape and South Africa as a whole.” concluded Minister Wenger.