The latest forecasts for Africa’s rapidly growing travel and tourism industry will be unveiled at the WTM Vision Conference – Cape Town.
The WTM Vision Conference – Cape Town, which takes place during the inaugural WTM Africa on Friday 2 May, will also debate the crucial impact of mobile on the tourism industry and showcase the best mobile apps and case studies.
As with the other four WTM Vision Conferences around the globe, it will feature up-to-the-minute market intelligence from Euromonitor International, a leading research specialist with an extensive network of strategic analysts in 80 countries.
Paz Casal, Africa Research Manager at Euromonitor International, will present the Travel Industry Forecast Review 2014, looking at how the recovery in the global economy will affect the continent.
According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, demand for international tourism in 2013 was strongest for destinations in Africa (+6%), as well as Asia and the Pacific (+6%).
Africa attracted three million additional arrivals, reaching a new record of 56 million, reflecting the on-going rebound in North Africa (+6%) and the sustained growth of Sub-Saharan destinations (+5%).
2014 regional prospects are strongest for Asia and the Pacific (+5% to +6%) and Africa (+4% to +6%).
Casal will investigate trends such as Mandela pilgrimage tourism, as well as online and mobile developments which enable consumers to bypass traditional distribution methods.
“With international hotel chains buying up regional players, Sub-Saharan Africa holds the last piece of the puzzle in the search for long-term sustainable growth,” she said.
The second session at WTM Vision Conference – Cape Town will be from Digital Tourism Think Tank, an initiative which aims to provide thought leadership to the tourism industry in digital marketing best practice.
Called ‘Mobile is here to stay – 2014 Goes Mobile’, the session will present global and African case studies of tourism organisations and businesses which have
successfully incorporated mobile into their digital marketing.
Think Tank experts will showcase the best apps to demonstrate how mobile strategies can shape and add value to the overall tourism experience.
World Travel Market, Conference and Seminar Manager, Charlotte Sutton, who will introduce the event, said: “The inaugural WTM Vision Conference – Cape Town is a must attend event for all WTM Africa participants, as it will offer the latest information and insight into the African travel and tourism market.”
WTM Africa Vision Conference takes place between 10am – 12pm on Friday 2 May.
WTM Vision Cape Town is the third in a series of six WTM Vision Conferences taking place across the globe before World Travel Market in November (Monday 3 – Thursday 6) at ExCeL– London.
The first is in Moscow on 9 April, followed by Sao Paulo on 24 April. The fourth in the series is Dubai on 6 May, the fifth takes place in Shanghai on 8 May. The final event is in Rimini on 9 October.
WTM Africa will be one of three co-located travel industry events at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) that form Africa Travel Week 2014.
The others will include IBTM Africa (Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings) and ILTM Africa (International Luxury Travel Market) which will take place from 28-30 April.
Africa Travel Week events are:
• ILTM Africa 28–30 April 2014
• IBTM Africa 28–30 April 2014
• WTM Africa: 2-3 May 2014
