Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille steals a rickshaw in Durban.
South Africa is preparing to host African Travel Indava 2025, the largest exhibition on the continent, in Durban, from May 12th to 15th.
Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille has seen a surge in demand this year from businesses and buyers looking to attend the annual event.
“As we travel to Indava 2025 in Africa, we are currently participating from 26 African countries, including South Africa, and we have a consistent interest in the number of tourism products across the continent,” she said.
Over 200 exhibitors confirmed attendance. “A total of 908 buyers have been examined and approved, and seven 430 meetings have already been confirmed on the Indaba online diary platform.
“There is growing interest from key markets including the US, China, the UK and India. In fact, a total of 55 countries are represented in the buyer profile,” Delhir said.
Indaba presents a discussion about whether artificial intelligence (AI) can drive customer service improvements, streamline operations, enhance visitor experience, and optimize marketing strategies.
“This will help tourism businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, leverage the power of AI to stay competitive in the global tourism market,” Delhir said.
“This year Indaba will also enhance the value of African tourism products by highlighting opportunities for cross-border tourism collaboration and regional destination marketing.”
De Lille said 1,000 jobs were created for young people, students and entrepreneurs at the 2024 exhibition.
“A total of 9,000 representatives walked through the halls of Indaba, 1,200 exhibitors shared their dreams, 24,000 business meetings turned ideas into actions, direct economic activity in Durban produced R226 million laps, and another 333 million laps spilled in Kwazul Natal,” she said.
The Tourism Bureau has funded 120 small, micro and medium-sized businesses to participate in the event in 2024, and will do so this year.
Delire said sports, adventure tourism and medical tourism are the major draws in the country.
“In 2024, we accounted for 8.8% of the 8.2 million arrivals in 2023, more than 700,000 tourists to South Africa. Adventure tourists to South Africa stayed over five nights, almost three times more than the average tourists to South Africa,” she said.
“Adventure Tourism speaks to those seeking the heartbeat of new travelers – meaning, authenticity and magic. From the quiet beauty of Karu to the wild trails of Drakensberg, we invite the world to lose ourselves in Africa, and in doing so we find something deeper.”
She said over 200 G20-related conferences will be held in the country by the end of November.
“This solidifies the message. Tourism is not a side act of our economic narrative. It is a central setting,” Delir said, adding that the sector has “regained momentum” after the Covid-19 destruction, contributing 8.2% to GDP in 2023 compared to 9.5% of the pandemic.
“Nearly 9 million international visitors arrived in South Africa last year, 76% from peers in African countries. The tourism sector already supports 1.68 million jobs and is expected to grow to over 2.2 million by the end of the decade,” she said.
