Why Africa's tourism travel fairs should compete globally

President William Ruto at the official opening of Magical Kenya Travel Expo on October 2, 2024. [PCS] 

Tourism and travel experts in Africa want the travel fairs hosted within the continent to be repositioned to match global standards. This, they say, will help them attract top buyers of tourism business.

According to the president of the African Tourism Board, Cuthbert Ncube, the continent will not continue to play second fiddle in the competitive tourism environment that continues to evolve.

To achieve global standards, Ncube said the region must strive to avoid segmentation that only weakens the levels of presentation during the tourism expos.

"It's time for us to stand and be counted as a region, we have what it takes to be on the same level with globally known tourism fairs held in other countries, " Ncube remarked.

Ncube was speaking on the sidelines of the 14th edition of the annual Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE) that ended over the weekend at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi.

The event attracted over 4,000 delegates from 35 countries including 180 top buyers from across the globe.

"We are making impressive strides in making this show a premier tourism showcase in Africa as we continue to adopt innovations to resonate with the ever-dynamic tourism environment," said June Chepkemei, Kenya Tourism Board chief executive officer.

Chepkemei said Africa should speak in one voice even as it benchmarks with best practices from globally known giants in tourism fairs such as London-based World Travel Market (WTM), German's International Travel Bourse (ITB) and Asia's leading travel show- Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) among others.

Francis Gichaba, KTB chairman, said the process should not hinder the resolve to position the region for global appeal, adding that countries should build on synergies amongst themselves as they seek formidable positions to present tourism business to the world.

The meeting was attended by tourism boards of South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.