World Travel Market Africa (WTM), the leading B2B exhibition for Africa’s travel industry, has opened its registration for visitors and press.

 

The inaugural WTM Africa will bring the world to Africa and promote Africa to the world over the two day event on 2 – 3 May, as part of the South African based Thebe Reed Exhibitions’ Africa Travel Week, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Both inbound and outbound travel professionals as well as press can now register to attend the first ever World Travel Market Africa online at www.wtmafrica.com. By registering ahead of the show visitors can avoid the onsite registration fee.  

Over the two day WTM Africa, attendees can take advantage of the excellent line-up of sessions which make up the Official Event Programme, featuring senior speakers from well-known organisations such as African Business Travel Association (ABTA), Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Digital Tourism Think Tank and Travel Bloggers Unite.

 

WTM Africa’s own Responsible Tourism Programme will also form a key component of the sessions taking place over the two days of the event. The Responsible Tourism Programme will be brought together by industry leader and organiser of the World Travel Market Responsible Tourism Programme in London, Professor Harold Goodwin and includes speakers such as Fabrice Leclercq of T.R.I.P. Ghana and Heidi van der Watt from the ICRT South Africa.

 

WTM Africa is attracting a lot of interest from senior buyers from around the globe, with a high number of travel businesses confirming their attendance and looking to sign deals with African and international exhibitors.

 

The WTM Africa Hosted Buyer Programme offers a unique opportunity for 300 senior level travel industry buyers with direct purchasing power to attend WTM Africa as VIPs, including complimentary accommodation, transfers and a contribution towards flight costs.

 

Kevin Bailey ‘Chief Lion’ at well-known South African company Lion Roars commented “We are delighted that the event is taking place in our favourite city, Cape Town. We applaud the decision to stage WTM Africa in Cape Town and we are sure the event will be a resounding success, allowing us a great platform to share our passion and pride for our portfolio and our fantastic country.”

 

Some 30 destinations will be represented on the show floor outside of Africa, including, France, Dubai, Germany, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Portugal, Norway, India, Thailand, Turkey, Italy, Singapore, Israel , Malaysia and  many more.

 

Exhibitors from Africa including Namibia, Zambia, Swaziland, Reunion Island and Botswana along with top Destination Management Company Thompsons Africa, amongst others, will all be showcasing their destinations, products and services, taking full advantage of the networking opportunities available, including the WTM Africa Welcome Party where attendees will have the chance to network in a relaxed party environment whilst sampling the delights Cape Town has to offer.

A wide range of travel technology companies, hotel groups, safari operators and exciting tourist attractions will also form part of the first WTM Africa, including Hotelspro, Amadeus, Quadlabs Technologies, Timeless Safaris, City Lodge Group, TBO Holidays (Techmaster), Rezlive.com, Cango Caves, three Cities, South African National Parks, Acacia Africa to highlight but a few.  Dreams 4 Africa will be well represented on the exhibition floor with Kololo Game Reserve, Island's Edge Luxury Villas, Umlani Bushcamp, Marine Dynamics to name just a few as exhibiting partners.

 

WTM Africa Exhibition Manager, Polly Magraw said: “WTM Africa is progressing successfully and I am extremely confident the show will deliver high quality content for the growing African tourism market. We are delighted with the number of people that have shown an interest so far in WTM Africa. I’m sure this will be reflected in positive registration numbers and will lead to a highly fruitful event for all.”

 

Africa Travel Week are:

 ·        ILTM Africa 28 – 30 April 2014

·         IBTM Africa 28 – 30 April 2014

·         WTM Africa 2 – 3 May 2014

 

To register please visit for this event please visit http://www.wtmafrica.com/registration

 

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

 

We also invite you to like WTM Africa’s facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wtmafricaand 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

 

For all media enquiries:

In Africa

Lloyd Orr Communications

Tel: +27 11 702 9601

 

Chantal Nieuwenhuizen                                                        Myra Rego

chantal@lloydorr.com                                                           myra@lloydorr.com

International

World Travel Market – Africa

Tel: +44 (0)20 8910 7897

Paul Nelson  / Nicole Collett

paul.nelson@reedexpo.co.uk / Nicole.Collett@Reedexpo.co.uk

 

Notes to the editor:

About World Travel Market

World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. Almost 48,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press, embark on ExCeL - London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM. WTM, now in its 34th year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals. WTM 2012 generated £1,860 million of travel industry contracts, revealed independent research by Fusion Communications. WTM is owned by the world’s leading event’s organiser Reed Exhibitions (RE), which organises a portfolio of other travel industry events including 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 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.

 

About Thebe Reed Exhibitions

Formally Thebe Exhibitions and Projects (TEPG), the newly branded Thebe Reed Exhibitions is a joint venture agreement with Thebe Tourism Group Pty Limited and Reed Exhibitions. It is now Southern Africa’s most forward thinking and successful exhibition, trade fair, special project and event organiser responsible for exhibitions such as Decorex, 100% Design, Meidiatech Africa, the Sports and Events Tourism Exchange (SETE), Business Opportunities and Franchise Expo and now the Africa Travel Week events; WTM Africa, ILTM and IBTM.  Thebe Reed Exhibitions aims to provide the best platform for showcasing industries and nurturing business and networking opportunities on the African continent. www.thebereed.co.za

 

About Reed Travel Exhibitions

Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry, with a wide-ranging portfolio of 21 international events in 14 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. Its market-leading, business-to-business events cover all elements of travel and tourism, including leisure travel, luxury travel, meetings, events, incentives and business travel, as well as golf, ski and spa travel. RTE is part of Reed Exhibitions. RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions. www.reedtravelexhibitions.com