Last month, Africa hosted a series of trade evenings in Denmark, Norway and Sweden with phenomenal support from the Nordic travel trade. The events were hosted by The African Travel & Tourism Association (Atta) and South Africa-based organisers, On Show Solutions in their quest to promote tourism to Africa.

With a combined population of only 25 million people forming the third largest outbound market in Europe, the Nordic countries make up an important source market for Africa.  This region has become more and more significant in recent years as African companies look for new growth markets to extend their marketing reach beyond the traditional core markets. 

Atta and On Show Solutions felt the time was right to combine forces and present a new marketing platform for the African specialists in these countries to learn more about this exciting destination and discover new products. The key partner in this venture was Atta's Nordic Representative, Eva Stenmarck from Eva Stenmarck Travel Marketing, who operates in all four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). Eva has strong relationships with key players in the Nordic leisure travel industry and has served as market expert tasked with delivering the right calibre of agents and operators to the events.

Commenting on the Nordics roadshow, Atta CMO Lina Vaiksnoriene said: 'Atta is always searching for new markets for our members to spread the message about this amazing continent. We see this roadshow as a very successful platform for the future relationships between the Nordic travel trade and African suppliers representing elite destinations in Africa.”

'Kenya Airways see it as a great honor but also a natural duty to form part of the frame when African-based vendors decide to visit the Nordic region,' says Per Caroe of Kenya Airways. 'The energy and enthusiasm shown from both vendors and buyers was a boost to all involved and we hope this will materialise into many more visitors from the travel-happy Nordic to wonderful Africa.'

Patrick Menzies of South African Airways went on to say 'The participating exhibitors, of which many were new to this market, ensured a broad spectre of what Southern and Eastern Africa has to offer. I am in no doubt that this was the main reason the show was visited by so many agents and it will ensure a positive future for the show in the Nordics.'  

South Africa is today a well-established destination in the Nordic region and is often the first country in Africa to be visited but the market is always looking for new ideas. In Southern Africa countries like Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe are seeing a steady growth and there is particular interest in Botswana and Zimbabwe. Most second time travellers would like to explore more of the perceived “real” Africa. In East Africa, Kenya is the oldest destination for Nordic safari travellers, but Tanzania is now growing fast. Other African countries of interest for Nordic travellers include Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia and a number of the exhibitors found these countries to be well received.

The Africa Showcase for 2015 represented travel opportunities from 16 African countries, with several companies crossing over Southern and East Africa.  From a total of 24 exhibitors, 41% of the companies could offer properties and safaris for East Africa, 77% represent offers in Southern Africa and 4,5% represent Indian Ocean Islands.

Atta and On Show Solutions look forward to their next exciting joint venture – the Africa Showcase in the UK & Ireland – taking place in June 2015.

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 About Atta

The African Travel & Tourism Association is a member-driven trade association that promotes tourism to Africa from all corners of the world. Recognised as the Voice of African Tourism, Atta serves and supports business leaders in Africa representing the elite buyers and suppliers of tourism product across 22 African countries. With over 550 members, Atta acts as Pan-Africa's largest network of tourism product covering not only accommodation, transport and travel specialists in Africa, but a formidable selection of tour operators, representation and PR companies worldwide promoting tourism to Africa. www.atta.travel

About On Show Solutions

The Africa Showcase is produced by On Show Solutions based in Johannesburg, South Africa.  On Show Solutions hosts exhibition and workshop platforms in key markets around the world in its quest to promote tourism to Africa.  For information about the Africa Showcase, email ideas@onshowsolutions.co.za or visit www.onshowsolutions.co.za. 

Contact Details:

Lina Vaiksnoriene | ops@atta.travel | +44 207 937 4408

Jacqui Reynolds | Jacqui@onshowsolutions.co.za | +27 72 47 88 310