Heritage and Culture a major focus of exciting INDABA 2013
The South African Tourism INDABA 2013, Africa’s top travel show, is set to offer unrivalled opportunities, new innovations and networking platforms for the tourism trade and international buyers this year to stimulate tourism business in a market growing well above the rate of global growth.
Between January and November 2012, South Africa had attracted over 8.3 million international tourists and grown at 10.5% (against average global tourism growth of 4% in 2012), as the country continued to entrench its reputation as a world-class leisure and business events destination.
For all global and local companies, individuals or tourism industry stakeholders keen to share in this growth story, INDABA 2013 at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre from 11 - 14 May 2013 will be an unmatched event on the regional African tourism calendar not to be missed.
Last year’s INDABA theme of “Shaping our Future Together” - which paid tribute to the joint efforts of South Africa’s tourism industry and its global partners in achieving the phenomenal growth in recent years - will again be the theme at INDABA 2013, which will also have a strong ‘Heritage and Culture’ focus.
For anyone wanting to do business with South Africa and its Southern African neighbours and to get a better feel for the regional African tourism industry, INDABA 2013 will be a treasure trove of key introductions, business opportunities and exposure to hundreds of exhibitors across the tourism spectrum. For the tourism industry, there is the opportunity to interact and forge strong business links with some of the world’s top travel buyers.
Over 1 165 main and sharing exhibitors and 2 000 international and local buyers - 250 of them top international buyers hosted by South African Tourism - have already confirmed their attendance at INDABA 2013, with that number growing daily.
While South Africa is a destination of spectacular beauty, offering every conceivable tourist attraction under the African sun to suit every pocket, the destination’s differentiator is its warm, hospitable people and the memories they leave visitors with long after they’ve left.
A major new addition at INDABA this year will be a ‘Heritage and Culture Pavilion’ located at the Durban Exhibition Centre, which will innovatively showcase South Africa’s world heritage sites, its leisure offerings, culture, art, design and music - all of which combine to tell South Africa’s story, its history, its future and gives better insight into its people.
The pavilion is a major project undertaken by the National Department of Tourism and South African Tourism, in collaboration with the MOJA Heritage Collection, and it will be an exhibition of some of the country’s best heritage and culture tourist offerings and distinctively South African tourism products.
All delegates - exhibitors, buyers, media and visitors - are encouraged to visit the ‘Heritage and Culture’ pavilion, to experience South African stories woven in folklore, myth and history and the country’s globally celebrated sense of style in design, arts and crafts.
“Our market research shows that travellers are increasingly looking to experience the unique, authentic, personal South African stories. They are looking to meet the locals, experience where they live, eat where they eat and be part of the country’s culturally rich lifestyle, while learning about the history of this great country. The Heritage and Culture pavilion will be an exciting addition to INDABA 2013 and we have also included a number of new elements to the show this year which will be of major value to buyers and exhibitors,” says South African Tourism Chief Executive Officer Thulani Nzima.
INDABA is primarily a trade show and to this end the Speed Marketing sessions, which were very popular at INDABA 2012, will again be an even more integral part of the show this year, with the focus on National Parks of South Africa on Saturday, Heritage and Culture on Sunday and Wine Routes of South Africa on Monday. The speed marketing sessions will give hundreds of international buyers the invaluable opportunity of being exposed to - and to do business with - a wide cross-section of South African tourism products.
The Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA) will again at INDABA 2013 host a master class with TripAdvisor, the world’s biggest and most influential travel website with 60 million unique monthly users. The workshop will be open to all star-graded accommodation establishments and will be an invaluable session, providing tips first-hand from TripAdvisor experts on how best to use the platform to market your establishment to a worldwide and increasingly socially-engaged audience.
Another exciting feature at INDABA for the first time will be a Travel Bloggers conference on the eve of the show, attended by some of the most influential international and local bloggers, who will unpack the changing face of destination marketing and the importance of personalised, user-generated content and social media engagement and its impact for the tourism trade.
At INDABA this year, particular attention has been paid to making sure that exhibitors, buyers, media and stakeholders are able to connect with all the key people, places and things they need for a successful INDABA.
One of the innovations this year, besides the information on the website, mobile app and social media coverage of the event, is technology specifically designed to allow easy connections - which will be called ‘INDABA Connect’.
INDABA Connect is a simple, but powerful platform that allows information, contact details, images and presentations to be easily shared among show delegates, in a very simple integrated way. By simply touching a delegate or exhibitor's tag at an exhibitor's stand, presentation, event or activation, users will have all the information attached to their online INDABA Connect profile, which will make getting in touch easier and more productive than sharing business cards, brochures and CD-Roms or USB sticks. This will also enable better engagement for delegates before, during and after the show - allowing for more meaningful connections this year.
The Matchmaking diary system, designed to facilitate important business connections between exhibitors and buyers at INDABA, will again be in place.
“The South African tourism industry is a very exciting one to be part of right now and we are confident the growth we are experiencing will translate into increased business opportunities. Our potential is huge and to unleash it we are working hard to attract quality global buyers to INDABA 2013, who are committed to doing tourism business with South Africa and to tap into our destination’s unique and diverse offerings. Despite tough economic times, South Africa’s tourism industry has continued to see growth in recent years and as a collective we need to grow and shape the future of our industry together. INDABA remains the premier regional African tourism platform for global buyers to gain easy access to the widest possible cross-section of the South African tourism industry - all under one roof - and we are very excited about the show this year,” says Nzima.
Over 600 local and international journalists and broadcasters are set to cover all the tourism news and trends at INDABA. A number of news-gathering events and activations have been planned, including topical briefings to give insight into South African Tourism’s market outlook, in-market campaigns and activities.
INDABA will take place from May 11 to 14. For more information on the show and for details on how to register to attend, visit www.indaba-southafrica.co.za.
(Source - Indaba)
East Coast Radio Wins at the MTN Radio Awards.
East Coast Radio honoured at MTN Radio Awards.
MTN Bright Star winner Seema Diahnan at the awards evening
East Coast Radio's Drive with Damon Team receives their award for best promotions stunt
East Coast Radio is proud to have scooped two awards at the prestigious MTN Radio Awards ceremony over the weekend. The station was awarded Best Commercial Promotions Stunt for a treasure hunt by the Drive with Damon team and Deputy News Editor, Seema Diahnan, was inducted into the MTN Bright Stars Club. East Coast Radio had received a total of 12 nominations, including one for Best Commercial Radio Station.
The station’s General Manager Trish Taylor attended the Gala Banquet on Saturday 13 April, together with a contingent from the station. She says, “We’re extremely proud of our winners. Their dedication to great radio has been acknowledged by one of the most prestigious awards in the industry.”
“The MTN Bright Star award recognises people who have who have an intrinsic understanding and love for radio and we’re delighted that Seema Diahnan is among those young people who are making their mark in the industry.” says Taylor.
Diahnan says, “Working in radio is never a job, it’s a passion. So to be rewarded for it is like the icing on a rather fabulous chocolate cake. I’m elated to have been chosen to accept an accolade at an awards function that also recognised established industry greats.”
(Source - East Coast Radio)
Art Exhibit Coming up for Umhlanga 24th April 6pm at 8 Solstice Road, New Town Centre, Umhlanga Ridge.
A Work by Raja Oshi
"Uncontained"
An exhibition by Raja Oshi
With sculptures by Tim Mostomi
Mwimbi Fine Art Gallery cordially invites you to the official opening of "Uncontained", an exhibition by Raja Oshi and Tim Motsomi. In 1994, Raja Oshi graduated at the College of Fine Art and Applied Art in Sudan at the University of Science and Technology. For an extended period of time, Oshi and her family lived in UAE, Norway, UK, France and Germany. Oshi’s geometric but vibrant paintings show themes gravitating towards woman as equal commentor’s in our contemporary societies. Her fascination with colour coded shapes reflects ideologies attached with woman depicted in societies.
In Tim Motsomi’s sculptures, he tries to emphasise his interest in “materiality and the liminal space between beauty and homeliness, loss and gain, fragility and strength, self and other, fact and truth” and how these polarities can give insight to the development of both personal narratives and shared(cultural) narratives. Tim uses his own body as a tool to reflect the act of ‘remembering’, fictional or otherwise, as an entity with corporeal potential. What results from this is a historical mis en-scene that is less about fact and rather about an imagined ideal. As emphasized in his sculptures, the figures he creates remain knowingly mute and seemingly unaware (closed eyes) of the fact that they are on view; whilst at the same time they seem to be policing their own secret and fantastical historiographies.
The "Uncontained" exhibition is part of a series of exhibitions in the new space that invites artists to negotiate through ideologies that have confronted conventional structural patterns in art making and presentation. These interpretations open up new possibilities in evaluating previous methods employed to portray artists as makers but also contributors in community and societal development.
The exhibition is curated by Zimbabwean born Lee Garakara who aims is to encourage and promote contemporary African art not only locally but also through international arts scene. Furthermore, MFAG hopes to show competitiveness and the high standards produced by contemporary African artist in KZN. Garakara wishes to establish long term relationships with local artists and Contemporary galleries as well as learning each other cultural values and artistic production that may influence and benefit communities in both ends. We look forward to seeing at the opening the opening and witness this birth of this new partnership with Miele Durban. The exhibition will be opened by Karen Buckenham at 6pm on 24th April and will run until the 29th May, 2013. MFAG is now situated at 8 Solstice Rd, Cnr Millenium Boulevard. Shop 1 Ground Floor, Millenium Towers, Umhlanga Rocks. For more info please visit or email the curator at info@mwimbifineart.com, www.mwimbifineart.com. 072 229 6530.
(Source - Mwimbi Fine Art)
