Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille has called on the tourism trade and wider industry stakeholders to help shape a revamped Africa’s Travel Indaba from 2027, saying planning for the next edition must begin immediately after this year’s event concludes.
Speaking during an Africa’s Travel Indaba webinar update, De Lille said government wants to move away from a long-standing delivery model that relies primarily on departmental funding and instead introduce partnerships and sponsorships.
She called on tourism stakeholders, the creative sector and the broader public to submit ideas on how the show could evolve. “We have been more or less doing the same thing for 40 years,” she said. “If you use the same business plan over and over again but expect different results, you are not going to get it.”
De Lille added: “In the next few months after May, we are going to engage on how we can revamp the event to include partners and sponsorship.”
She said the shift is part of a change in government’s approach to business events, aligned with the policy direction of the seventh administration, which prioritises partnerships to reduce pressure on the fiscus.
Exhibitor placement concerns
During the webinar, exhibitors repeatedly asked when they would receive confirmation of their stand allocations.
In response, South African National Convention Bureau Chief Convention Bureau Officer Corné Koch said organisers are processing a high volume of additional exhibitor applications through the appointed exhibition management company and are working through these as the system converts applications into placements.
Exhibitors who have already received stand allocations need to accept or decline them promptly, she said, warning that delays have a “domino effect” on allocating alternative positions to others waiting in the queue.
Koch said cut-off deadlines will be implemented for exhibitors who have not yet accepted placements to allow remaining requests to be processed and floor plans finalised.
Indaba 2026 numbers
Koch said 600 main and sharing exhibitors have been confirmed to date although this number is expected to change as sharing exhibitors continue to register.
A total of 22 African countries will exhibit, including 14 tourism boards, alongside representation from all nine South African provinces. Of the exhibitors confirmed so far, 191 are SMMEs registered independently through the platform.
Buyer applications have been accepted from 71 countries with 840 hosted and non-hosted buyers confirmed. Since the appointment diary opened on April 20, more than 3 315 meetings have already been scheduled through the platform.
The Durban International Convention Centre exhibition space is about 70% allocated with most large stands placed and remaining availability largely limited to smaller plug-and-play pavilion space. Exhibition space in DEC 1 and DEC 2 has largely been allocated.
De Lille also confirmed that President Cyril Ramaphosa will officially open this year’s Africa’s Travel Indaba on May 12.
