Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA) will attend the World Travel Market Africa 2015 in Cape Town, building on the rising flow of both business and leisure traffic between the UAE and South Africa.
Mubarak Al Nuaimi, director of destination promotion at the TCA, said: “We followed with interest the success of the inaugural WTM Africa exhibition in 2014 and we are excited to be exhibiting this year — our delegation will showcase the very best of Abu Dhabi’s tourism opportunities.
“Airlift to Abu Dhabi will substantially increase from March when South African Airways begin flights direct to the UAE capital, joining Etihad Airways’ seven flights a week to Abu Dhabi, and this is an ideal opportunity for us to increase our inbound visitors from the African continent.”
Representatives from Etihad Airways will accompany TCA officials, while low-cost pan-Africa airline Fastjet — part owned by easyJet — will highlight regional opportunities following its newly launched routes to South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe from its Dar es Salaam base.
Already the leading business-to-business tourism event in Africa, this year’s WTM Africa, which will run from 15th-17th April, has also been expanded an extra day to become a three-day event and the exhibition floor space will be 50% bigger.
Carol Weaving, MD of Thebe Reed Exhibitions, added: “It’s great to see such a wide range of new exhibitors, and it’s a result of the buzz the inaugural WTM Africa created last year.
“WTM Africa 2014 saw almost 4,000 industry professionals negotiate deals worth $314m and the sheer diversity of the new exhibitors joining us this time gives me great confidence that those figures will easily be surpassed.
