South African trade show Indaba is to become a showcase for the African continent as a whole, in a move toward "mutually beneficial" cooperation and competition.
South African tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told the show's opening ceremony that it was time to modernise and expand Indaba beyond its South African focus.
“Let's not resent each other’s success; instead, let's grow off the success of each other,” he said.
African nations are represented by tourism bodies at the trade show, but from 2014 this participation will gradually increase.
“We are willing to invest even more to transform Indaba into a pan-African trade platform,” van Schalkwyk said.
“That will ensure more exhibitors and more buyers, which will be good both for South Africa and the African continent,” the minister added.
The minister said that international tourist arrival growth in South Africa was 10.2% in 2012 against a global industry growth of 4%.But with three-quarters of South African travel undertaken by the domestic market, the tourism body is also targeting local tourists who contributed 1.1 billion rand to the tourism economy.
