…Kenya to host maiden show in October
On Show Solutions, a global organiser of roadshows and exhibitions and African Travel & Tourism Association (ATTA), a membership-driven trade association that promotes travel and tourism to Africa, have partnered to launch a travel expo in Africa.
Tagged ‘Essence of Africa’, the new travel show was launched at ITB Berlin on March 5, 2024, as part of the new offerings at the show this year.
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The show, the first-of-its-kind on an African soil, will take place from October 2-4, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Speaking on the launch at ITB Berlin recently, Amanda, executive of On Show Solutions, explained that ‘Essence of Africa’ offers the organisers the opportunity to look at something unique and very specialised.
“The reason we have done it this way is to offer people a platform without segmenting the industry.
The focus is on international buyers. We will invite them from around the world and focus on the best in the market,” Amanda said.
Another unique selling point of the show, according to Amanda, is the focus on fam trips.
“If you look at a show like Indaba, it is organised by South Africa Tourism and for that reason, they would like to showcase South Africa as a hub and in the case of East Africa, the focus is on Kenya”.
But the difference the new show brings to the table, according to her, is to offer fam trips from all over the region.
“So, we will have an Africa Showcase where we will invite pre-authorized and pre-qualified buyers to come to the show.
“We are looking for quality and not quantity. Those buyers will be able to select their fam trips in what is best for them.
A lot of them might know Kenya and South Africa well, but we will give them the opportunity to meet everyone on one platform.
“We can then do a fam trip to South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, which is different from all other international trade shows in Africa”.
Speaking further on the need for the fam trip, she noted that WTM Africa offers a fam trip to Cape Town and by hosting the show in Nairobi, Essence of Africa looks at East Africa as a hub.
“We have done a lot of work in Kenya, but we are not keeping the show restricted to Kenya specifics. However, Kenyans will have the opportunity to offer fam trips in their own country and it opens us to more exhibitors outside Kenya”.
Offering details on the fam trips, she said that they would be post fam trips with hosted buyers coming into Nairobi, they would be hosted for three days and then handed over to DMCs and tour operators.
To participate in the show, interested participants are urged to visit the website, which is now open at www.essence of africa.travel.com.
There is also a portal to hook on as a buyer or exhibitor, while all the information is online and for more enquiries, buyers can email the organisers through [email protected].
Also sharing her impression on the forthcoming show, she was excited that the exhibitor application, which opened before the ITB Berlin launch, has already got lots of interest as the main idea is to focus on one-on-one exhibitor meet buyer, with very qualitative exhibitors and qualitative buyers that are having one-on-one meeting for three days, amid table talk, speed networking events and others.
Also sharing her views on ITB Berlin 2024, she said, “ITB Berlin has been good, we have had a good show this year and all has been cool in the African section with about 20 countries participating.
We have Namibia Tourism, South Africa Tourism, Zimbabwe, Botswana among others”.
