Tourism Update asked readers to complete an online survey on Africa’s Travel Indaba 2018. Here is a round-up of the feedback received.
Q1: Was this year’s Indaba an improvement on previous years?
Of the participants who chose to answer the first question, 100% said they found this year’s Indaba an improvement on previous Indabas.
It must be noted that a small number of readers chose to skip this question, while others opted to comment instead.
Anonymous responses in the comment box included:
“This was by far the best Indaba I have exhibited at.”
“More traffic, better floor plan and it seems better meetings.”
“No – it was smaller.”
“Registration and food facilities were better, but overall, not really. Outdoor walkways are a death trap.”
“While it retained the ‘Indaba vibe’ it finally got back last year, I felt quality of the buyers were inferior to previous years, probably as a result of the delay in appointment of the organiser.”
“No, there were a lot more empty spaces.”
“It was the quietest Indaba I have been to in ten years.”
“No, not enough buyers, location is too old, Durban is beyond its sell-by date. Indaba was more expensive this year, for getting less out of it.”
Q2: Were buyers more relevant to the businesses exhibiting?
78% voted ‘Yes’, while 22% voted ‘No’.
Comments included:
“Absolutely! Far superior to the ones at WTM Africa this year.”
“It is not any good to flood the floor with uniform suppliers for Travel Indaba. Better this year and more relevant.”
“More local buyers than anything else, with a host of tyre kickers that would not purchase a thing. Those international buyers were very poor quality.”
“Some were, but in my opinion not of the same quality as previous years.”
“The hosted buyers made the normal full-paying clients see less clients.”
Q3: Do you think Africa’s Travel Indaba should relocate or stay in Durban?
29% voted for Africa’s Travel Indaba to remain in Durban, 33% voted for the travel trade show to move elsewhere, while 38% voted for Indaba to travel around South Africa.
Q4: Will your business be attending the 2019 Indaba?
89% voted ‘Yes’, while 11% voted ‘No’.
Comments included:
“Without a doubt.”
“Will not be seeing us again, as the show is no longer relevant. Rather do marketing to a captive audience outside the country.”
“Not sure, there are too many operators registering as buyers at a very minimal amount versus the huge financial outlay for an exhibiting stand.”
“If the Africa focus in maintained – not just SA.”
“Hosted buyers and the fact they had to go and see clients they will never use, made me think that we don’t need to attend the show.”
Q5: Do you feel that the traffic and quality of buyers attending was worth the cost of exhibiting?
65% voted ‘Yes’, while 35% voted ‘No’.
Comments included:
“For some of our stand sharers, yes, others had a dismal show primarily due to low traffic (and lack of preparation of their part).”
Q6: Did your business get value from interacting with fellow exhibitors, buyers and media?
86% voted ‘Yes’, while 14% voted ‘No’.
Q7: If you answered ‘No’ to the previous question, what factors contributed to less business being done?
Comments included:
“Buyers did not pitch for their meetings, some arriving two days later as a last resort. Also stand was positioned in a very bad area, with little foot traffic. Lastly, the number of visitors was a minimum from other years. Feedback we got, at least 30% to 40% of whom we spoke to felt exactly the same. Also not returning next year.”
“Appointment diary needs serious attention.”
“Time of year is useless to us; got to be earlier. Hosted buyers cannot take up 80% of their time seeing irrelevant clients because they have to for once listen to the trade.”
Q8: Did you find the Business Matchmaking Programme useful?
29% found the Business Matchmaking Programme ‘Extremely helpful’, 48% found it ‘Somewhat helpful’, 14% found it ‘Not helpful’, while 9% found it ‘Time consuming’.
Comments included:
“Worked like a charm.”
“I really like the programme a lot, as I have to set up two schedules for our company, but it is far too time consuming!”
“Not all exhibitors take notice of it.”
“Did not use but heard it was better.”
Q9: What, in our opinion, would improve Africa’s Travel Indaba for 2019?
Responses included:
“Merging WTM and Indaba, taking it to ICC Cape Town and get 6 000 to 7 000 international buyers in one place to do proper business, and not make believe.”
“Moving it to Cape Town, combining it with WTM.”
“Open registrations, diaries, etc. earlier (this year it was at least six weeks behind previous years). Re-look layout – the centre walkway in the ICC was a brilliant idea but the blank, dead walls such as that created by the Buyers’ Lounge in the ICC were annoying, it was like exploring a maze. The non-entity municipal stands with their entourage of self important politicians and no tourism brand worth promoting, each noisily launching some new product which will have been forgotten by next year, discouraged many from spending quality time in the DEC.”
“Timing – it should be in April (latest).”
“Change the date.”
“More international exposure.”
“You need to have all key players and big companies at Indaba. Also countries for Africa are missing. There is work to be done to get them all here again and make it a great, and THE show in Africa.”
“Encourage more participation from SADC countries, apart from through their tourism boards.”
“Communication with exhibitors needs to be more streamlined.”
“Continue to grow the number of relevant buyers that attend Indaba.”
“Better method of stand numbering. We had many visitors asking us how to get to certain stands and getting lost in the ICC.”
“Collection point for access badges at Durban airport. More get-together or leisure small evening functions at the showground, dinner options.”
“Cleaner and bigger bathrooms. More security.”
“Buyers that are established and not a one-pony show looking for a free trip to SA.”
“Fair playing field for all, stop SA Tourism operators, i.e. accommodation, tour operators etc from registering as buyers.”
“Stop inviting the same people year after year.”
Q10: Any other comments, concerns or ideas?
Responses included:
“Really big improvement from previous years – well done to the team!”
“We are positive about Indaba's future and love the new branding. Seeing Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom at the show daily, mingling with exhibitors and buyers gave us encouragement about how seriously government takes tourism. Liked the layout with a prominent SA Tourism stand and the Hidden Gems at the main entrance. Please keep the food trucks and tent in the middle between ICC and DEC. Ask the ICC to up their game and train their cashiers before the event commences.”
“Indaba was very poor this year, although it was the new tender. A lot of people got the feeling the price was excessive.”
“I think lots of money is wasted on the huge extravaganzas the show invests into some of the smaller provinces that are represented in huge numbers and not relevant to tourism offerings.”
“I like the idea of being more vibrant and African during the show, but the (live) music at the outside areas was far too loud as I use the terrace a lot for (lunch) meetings.”
“Buyers are abusing the system of getting a free trip with free flights, accommodation and food – some don’t show up to appointments, or make excuses for when they can't make an appointment i.e., too tired, the stands are too far apart etc. Also for exhibitors, making it more easy for us that have to stand around at stands all day long with perhaps a 20-minute break to get lunch (miles away), run to the bathroom or have a smoke break.”
“Food and public areas were a vast improvement this year. The new layout of the ICC stands was confusing and needs further refining.”
“Some of the maps in the DEC were hopelessly inadequate. Low-res images blown up to 2m – unreadable.”
“More work needs to be done, including pre and post-marketing, as well as PR. No CSR project etc. More opportunities to look into.”
“R19 for a bottle of water!”
