Report by Mmatšatši Marobe
Excel Centre: London - Destination South Africa like many other countries across the world also takes part in this spectacular showcase of travel and tourism products and service offerings. The South African exhibition stand which is organised by Kagiso Exhibitions provided space for a myriad of South African products and services to do their businesses.
The exhibition stand is located in the Africa section of the WTM exhibition layout and its one of the biggest with neighbours such as Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Swaziland. The South African stand housed all the nine provinces and some of the tourism products and service providers.
The stand design was the same one used since 2006 with the addition of a soccer ball representing the fact that we are the host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. “I noticed once again that many of the big role players in our sector elected to exhibit outside but adjacent to the South African Tourism stand perhaps because the wanted more space than they could secure from the SAT stand”. It was also interesting to observe that our national carrier didn’t take up exhibition space on the SAT stand though their personnel were visibly promoting the airline during the show.
On speaking to some of the private sector exhibitors on stand, some of them expressed their wish for the SAT stand to have vigorously and visibly “displayed” our pride in been the host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup – the use of the soccer bal laws a great idea but it could have been complemented with other display materials and design elements and a bit of some “vibe” on the stand, one exhibitor remarked.
Exhibitors also mentioned that WTM2008 was slower with many of them reporting to have seen less business outside of their existing ones with Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th having passed – this are called Meridian Club and Trade Days. The perception of lower numbers at WTM 2008 seems to bug the trends of London experiencing lesser tourism arrivals since 2006. It’s been reported on CNN that the numbers are expected to be 3% less with most hotels in Central London reporting average occupancies. Not many partners seems to have attended the show this year though it may be early days as the exhibition goes on until Thursday, 13th November
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