Indaba 2002 will move back to May

INDUSTRY concern over the fact that the dates for South African Tourism's annual trade exhibition, Indaba, have been moved forward - being held this year for the first time in April (21-25) - and will adversely affect delegate attendance will be short-lived.
It has been confirmed that, as of next year, it will move back to its regular time slot during May.
Owen Leed, South African Tourism's chief marketing officer, said that it had been shifted to April this year as the May dates conflicted with the major US travel agents' PowWow. However, it will be remembered by many of those attending last year's Indaba - and by those who didn't because of the American show - that PowWow's 2000 dates were also within a week of Indaba.
"There were conflicting opinions on what should be done but in the end we decided to err on the side of caution," said Leed. "To date, we've had as good a delegate response as in other years from those expressing an intention to attend. So far, so good."
Gail McCann, ceo of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA), said that it was "unfortunate" that the dates had been changed and said that there had been negative rumblings over the decision, both domestically and internationally. "We've discussed our concerns with RAI (exhibition organisers) who have been very pro-active in dealing with our concerns."
These include the fact that there might well be a shortage of flights available for inbound delegates affecting particularly pre-Indaba educationals, the busy Easter weekend falling the week immediately prior to Indaba's opening day on Saturday, April 21.
Horst Frehse, general manager of the Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl is worried that European agents will stay away, given the proximity of Easter and the fact that Germany's ITB trade show is just the month before in Berlin.
"It might also be difficult to provide enough capacity for pre- and post tours, as we are still in our busy period. We have more available accommodation to host delegates in May," he said.
Brian Graham of Linyanti Explorations of Botswana says it will also be "a bit difficult for us". "We have to make sure that our 2002 rates are available for Indaba, so we have to scramble to think about next year's rates that much earlier."
Drifters Adventours' marketing director, Ken Hill, also agrees that the European operators who visit ITB might not bother to make the trip down south just a month later. "But whenever it is, it is bound to conflict with another show somewhere in the world. There's something on somewhere almost every day."
One thing is for sure. If delegates stay away, it is the little guys who will suffer most, those that can least afford to lose out simply because they could not afford to trek north to the bigger shows like ITB and World Travel Market.

(Elizabeth Sheridan)