South African Tourism has embarked on a “multi-layered feedback process” to gather participants’ insights into the 2025 Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) and determine the feasibility of refunds for exhibitors affected by operational challenges such as unfinished exhibition stands.
In response to questions from Tourism Update, Darryl Erasmus, SA Tourism’s Chief Operating Officer, acknowledged that the organisation had encountered “infrastructure challenges” that affected several exhibitors.
“I must apologise on behalf of SA Tourism for the struggles encountered and any negative impact this experience may have had on any of our exhibitors’ brands,” said Erasmus. “Outside of these issues, we are confident that Africa’s Travel Indaba 2025 was still a rewarding event for their teams and that the event generated meaningful business leads.”
Review underway
Erasmus said the SA Tourism team, together with its execution partners, is reviewing all reported incidents – case by case – to understand the scale of the impact and determine appropriate resolutions.
“While a blanket policy has not yet been finalised, we are assessing the feasibility of refunds or alternative redress mechanisms for affected exhibitors.”
He said the multi-layered feedback process initiated after the event is gathering insights from exhibitors, buyers, provincial authorities and service providers. Mechanisms include surveys for participating exhibitors and buyers, internal debriefs with provincial and municipal partners and the private-sector advisory panel, and review workshops with suppliers and infrastructure partners.
“These feedback mechanisms are not just procedural – they are critical inputs into how we redesign and strengthen ATI 2026. We are listening carefully and we intend to act decisively,” said Erasmus.
Planning for 2026 underway
Acknowledging the impacts of delayed planning on this year’s event, Erasmus confirmed that work on ATI 2026 has already begun.
“Planning sessions with our core internal teams are already underway and we fully intend to bring the private-sector advisory panel into the process, commencing with a soon-to-be-scheduled debrief session.”
He said early collaboration is “essential”.
“The 2025 event showed us that, while we achieved many successes, there is still a need for deeper integration and earlier alignment across public and private partners.”
