AFRICA TRAVEL WEEK ANNOUNCES WTM VISION CONFERENCE FOR AFRICA
(Posted 26th March 2014)
The latest news from Cape Town ahead of the upcoming Africa Travel Weeks is news of the launch of a WTM Vision Conference, aimed to profile the fast-growing African travel industry
The latest forecasts for Africa’s rapidly growing travel and tourism industry will be unveiled at the World Travel Market (WTM) Africa Vision Conference – Cape Town.
The WTM Vision Conference – Cape Town, which takes place during the inaugural WTM Africa on Friday 2 May, will also debate the crucial impact of ‘going mobile’ on the tourism industry and showcase the best mobile apps and case studies.
As with the other four WTM Vision Conferences around the globe, it will feature up-to-the-minute market intelligence from Euromonitor International, a leading research specialist with an extensive network of strategic analysts in 80 countries. Paz Casal, Africa Research Manager at Euromonitor International, will present the Travel Industry Forecast Review 2014, looking at how the recovery in the global economy will affect the continent.
According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, demand for international tourism in 2013 was strongest for destinations in Africa (+6%), as well as Asia and the Pacific (+6%). Africa attracted three million additional arrivals, reaching a new record of 56 million, reflecting the on-going rebound in North Africa (+6%) and the sustained growth of Sub-Saharan destinations (+5%).
2014 regional prospects are strongest for Asia and the Pacific (+5% to +6%) and Africa (+4% to +6%).
Casal will investigate trends such as Mandela pilgrimage tourism, as well as online and mobile developments which enable consumers to bypass traditional distribution methods.
‘With international hotel chains buying up regional players, Sub-Saharan Africa holds the last piece of the puzzle in the search for long-term sustainable growth’ said Paz Casal.
The second session at WTM Vision Conference – Cape Town will be from Digital Tourism Think Tank, an initiative which aims to provide thought leadership to the tourism industry in digital marketing best practice.
Called ‘Mobile is here to stay – 2014 Goes Mobile’, the session will present global and African case studies of tourism organisations and businesses which have successfully incorporated mobile into their digital marketing.
Think Tank experts will showcase the best apps to demonstrate how mobile strategies can shape and add value to the overall tourism experience.
WTM’s Conference and Seminar Manager, Charlotte Sutton, who will introduce the event, said, ‘The inaugural WTM Vision Conference – Cape Town is a must attend event for all WTM Africa participants, as it will offer the latest information and insight into the African travel and tourism market’.
The WTM Africa Vision Conference takes place between 10am – 12pm on Friday 2 May.
WTM Vision Cape Town is the third in a series of six WTM Vision Conferences taking place across the globe before World Travel Market in November (Monday 3 – Thursday 6) at ExCeL– London.The first is in Moscow on 9 April, followed by Sao Paulo on 24 April. The fourth in the series is Dubai on 6 May, the fifth takes place in Shanghai on 8 May. The final event is in Rimini on 9 October.
WTM Africa will be one of three co-located travel industry events at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) that form Africa Travel Week 2014. The others will include IBTM Africa (Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings) and ILTM Africa (International Luxury Travel Market) which will take place from 28-30 April.
Africa Travel Week dates are:
· ILTM Africa 28 – 30 April 2014
· IBTM Africa 28 – 30 April 2014
· WTM Africa 2 – 3 May 2014
For further information on WTM Africa please visit www.wtmafrica.com. For more information on each of the Africa Travel Week events, please visit www.africatravelweek.com
To register for this event please visit http://www.wtmafrica.com/registration
We also invite you to like WTM Africa’s facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wtmafrica and ILTM’s facebook page https://www.facebook.com/iltmevents and join us on twitter using the #’s below:
· WTM Africa @WTM_Africa #wtmafrica
· Africa Travel Week @africatravelwk #africatravelweek #ATW
· ILTM Africa @iltm_events #iltmafrica
· IBTM Africa @IBTMevents #ibtmafrica
About World Travel Market Africa
World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. WTM, now in its 34th year, has launched the first World Travel Market Africa show. WTM Africa is a two day event which will be held in Cape Town’s International Convention Centre (CTICC) on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 May. It will be the leading B2B exhibition for Africa’s leisure travel industry, bringing the world to Africa and promoting Africa to the world’s leading source markets. WTM Africa will attract exhibitors from all categories of the leisure travel industry within sub-Sahara Africa as well as North African destinations, aligning itself with sister events; WTM, WTM Latin America, Arabian Travel Market and International French Travel Market Top Resa.
WTM is owned by the world’s leading events organiser Reed Exhibitions (RE), which organises a portfolio of other travel industry events including World Travel Market Latin America, Arabian Travel Market and International Luxury Travel Market.
In 2012, RE held more than 460 events in 36 countries bringing together more than seven million people from around the world generating billions of dollars in business.
About the Africa Travel Week
Africa Travel Week will comprise three co-located shows – WTM Africa, IBTM Africa and ILTM Africa – encompassing Africa’s inbound and outbound markets for general leisure travel, luxury tourism, and the MICE/business travel sector under RTE’s established portfolios of WTM (World Travel Market), ILTM (International Luxury Travel Market) and IBTM (Incentives, Business Travel & Meetings).
Following the successful launch of ILTM Africa earlier this year, the decision to create an all-encompassing travel week will ensure Africa Travel Week is the leading global event for Africa’s travel industry.
