World Travel Market puts African tourism on the map

World Travel Market Africa (WTM), the continent’s leading and only B2B exhibition for both inbound and outbound travel and tourism markets, kicked off at the CTICC on Monday.

More than 7 000 delegates from over 100 countries, including tourism industry professionals, exhibitors, buyers and media, are currently in Cape Town for three days of trade, networking and deal-making. 

With over 9 000 pre-scheduled meetings, 180 speakers and 78 content sessions, this year’s World Travel Market is primed to be the biggest since Covid-19.

While WTM is a platform for industry professionals across the globe, it provides African professionals with an opportunity to share with the world what they have to offer.

It also gives Cape Town, as the host city, a chance to showcase why it is a sought-after tourism, leisure, business and event destination.

According to Deputy Mayor Alderman Eddie Andrews, this event will provide a wonderful platform for SMMEs in the travel industry looking to access international travel buyers. He said tourism is an economic driver for Cape Town, generating employment, income and investment. This is of course consistent with the City’s Tourism framework where SMMEs are targeted by assisting with marketing support and industry networking opportunities. He hoped that what’s being done in Cape Town can be used as a catalyst across Africa to develop tourism strategies and frameworks. The City of Cape Town is building a City of Hope and hoped that this will translate throughout Africa. 

As part of this year’s World Travel Market, the City of Cape Town has prepared a three-day programme to promote Cape Town’s tourism trends and innovations in events, investment and tech.  

‘World Travel Market is the perfect nexus for tourism, destination marketing and events. In Cape Town, in collaboration with various industry professionals, we are constantly working to leverage the power of events to drive tourism and vice versa. Events such as the WTM assist in facilitating this connection not only for Cape Town or South Africa but for other countries on the continent. The City’s Events Department has curated a distinct programme featuring some of Cape Town’s events, tourism and sustainability experts who will be discussing how we can further leverage the intersection of events and tourism. This will be anchored by an expert panel to discuss how women-led sports events are driving tourism,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

In its almost 10-year existence, foreign delegates at WTM contributed nearly R200 million in direct spend to Cape Town’s economy.

During the same period, the trade show has also resulted in the creation of more than 16 800 direct jobs.

Pre-pandemic, in 2019, the event sealed deals worth around $451 million and led to the creation of more than 3 100 jobs.

‘The fact that WTM Africa was the starting point for deals worth hundreds of millions of rand and thousands of jobs, speaks to tourism’s value for our economy and why it is my obsession to see that we secure a tourism-related job in every household in Cape Town. Our plan is to push clever, targeted campaigns, such as the one we have just launched in the US and which found great success in Europe, that will lead to increased bookings and city-to-city connections that attract visitors from key source markets. Then, through our partnerships, funding and work on projects such as Air Access and Cruise Cape Town, we are securing increased flights and cruise ships to Cape Town in order to meet greater traveller demand,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth Alderman James Vos.’

WTM Africa follows on the heels of ILTM Africa, part of the Africa Travel Week umbrella, which took place from Friday, 31 March 2023 and drew to a close yesterday at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

International Luxury Travel Market Africa gives leaders in the African luxury travel market every opportunity to re-connect, build relationships and grow their businesses.