As part of the ongoing partnership between Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN) and Rainbow Tours, 43 top travel agents from Poland will land directly at King Shaka International Airport  (Thursday, 04 December 2014), to spend six days in the province exploring some of the tourism offerings found in the beautiful province of KZN.

Rainbow Tours is one of the biggest outbound tour operators in Poland with a distribution network consisting of 80 retail shops and over a thousand travel agents. They operate weekly charters to a number of global destinations including Cancun, Mexico and Phuket, Thailand and now Durban has joined this elite club, building its way towards becoming one of the top destinations in the Polish market.

 “Europe is a key source market for KZN and we are keen to continue growing it. Furthermore, we want to grow direct international flights to King Shaka International and position it as a gateway, not only to KZN, but also to our neighbouring countries. We will continue to engage other partners to ensure that more charters land here,” said the MEC, who was very excited about the arrival of the guests.

Chief Executive Officer of TKZN, Ndabo Khoza, said, “The travel agents will spend six days in the province familiarising themselves with what is on offer in KZN for tourists to enjoy. They will enjoy first-hand tourism experiences ranging from safari drives in Hluhluwe, tours in South Africa's first World Heritage Site at St. Lucia, where they can spot hippos and crocodiles, and, of course, the urban, city life of Durban. We will also be featuring some elements of the East 3 Route in the programme in order to enhance the packaging of this experience to tour operators. This will provide them with valuable information in order to sell the destination more effectively back home. In terms of the Provincial Tourism Master Plan, Eastern Europe has been identified as major growth area focusing on the beach and wildlife experiences.”

Andre Laget, Managing Director of Akilanga Destination Management and Events, the South African ground handler for the Polish charters, said that, “Travel agents are on the frontline of selling any destination. They are the first point of contact with any potential traveller and educational trips are critical for travel agents. If they know a destination first hand, they will sell it much better.” 

The agents will be aboard a full charter flight bringing a third group of tourists flying directly from Warsaw to Durban. The second group that landed on 20 November will return home today after spending the past two weeks exploring various parts of the country.

This partnership between TKZN and Rainbow Tours is part of the continued efforts to increase international visitor numbers from Europe to KZN. The European market currently accounts for 15% of the 900 000 international visitors that come to South Africa

Note to the news editors:

About Tourism KwaZulu-Natal

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal was established in 1996 and is responsible for the development, promotion and marketing of tourism into and within the province, both domestically and internationally. The organisation is an entity that reports to the provincial Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs.

About Rainbow Tours

Rainbow Tours is a leading tour operator with hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers. For 25 year it makes dreams of travelling come true. From 2007 noted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange as the only tourism company in Poland

About Akilanga DMC & Events

In operation since 1994, the company has extensive experience in designing innovative and custom-made itineraries in Southern Africa. Akilanga DMC offers multilingual travel solutions for leisure groups, conferences, incentive events and individual travellers. Handling over 20 000 travellers in South Africa each year, Akilanga DMC ensures that 75% of them spend a minimum of 3 nights in KZN.

For more information please contact

Ms Boni Mchunu

General Manager: Marketing

TKZN

(031) 366 7512

083 388 8829

boni@zulu.org.za