Indaba to be 'better than ever before'

With their focus firmly fixed on retaining the Indaba show in Durban, staff at Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN) are going to make a "bigger push" at the massive trade event than ever before.

Their efforts, including a special plan of action, have been spurred on by the determination of other South African destinations which also want to scoop the massive trade show for themselves.

Miller Matola, TKZN's chief executive, said he understood that the other bid cities would be "pulling out all the stops" to grab Indaba from Durban, which has it until 2006.

The four-day Indaba - it starts in just 17 days - has been held in Durban for the past 14 years and will go out to tender for the 2007-2009 period in September.

However, Durban and other bid cities will have to wait until next year's Indaba to find out which has been successful.

The first pre-bid committee meeting has already been held between TKZN, Durban Africa, the city's marketing body, the city manager's office and the International Convention Centre, which will become the biggest conference venue in the country when the new multimillion-rand extensions are completed next year.

TKZN will be carrying out an in-depth survey at this year's Indaba to find out what delegates think about Indaba.

The plan is to harness support to prove what the authority already knows: "Indaba belongs to the Zulu Kingdom."

This year's Indaba is worth about R43-million, with some insider sources predicting it may well be worth R50-million to the region.

More than R10,5-million would be spent on accommodation by the 1 623 exhibitors and 2 222 delegates who had already booked, a media conference was told on Monday.

"Indaba has a huge impact on the region. We say we should retain Indaba. It's also an issue of capability," said Miller, referring to the size of the ICC.

There had been a "significant growth" in the number of delegates and exhibitors, up by 555 and 272 so far, Miller said.

The number of "small and medium entrepreneurs" exhibiting was also up 10 percent, and 10 black-run tourism businesses which previously shared the TKZN stand would now be entering the "main stream", exhibiting on their own.

TKZN has already been laying the foundations for next month's Indaba, spending money on advertising and editorials in overseas publications to increase awareness of the event and the region as a destination.

The tourism body has also been involved in joint promotions with South African Tourism, SAA and Durban Africa at big trade shows in London and Germany, which has contributed to the increase in visitors to the Indaba.

And, for six months, TKZN has been running a programme among travel agents and tour operators in the UK - a key market - who have never been to the Indaba before.

Now they are bringing in 50 agents to the Indaba, who will then "sell" KwaZulu-Natal to their customers back home.

International media representatives who have never visited the Indaba, as well as 10 German tour operators and journalists, will be brought in.

TKZN will be hosting functions for UK trade delegates, all aimed at increasing destination awareness and boosting tourism sales to the province.