Africa Showcase rolls into Canada

The 2015 Africa Showcase made its Canadian debut yesterday (Oct. 7) following stops in Los Angeles, Dallas and Boston. Presented by South African Airways (SAA) and On Show Solutions, the seventh annual road show event featured 30 tourism partners, rotating briefing sessions with suppliers, prizes and destination presentations by the Zambia Tourism Board, South African Tourism, Namibia Wildlife Resorts and Namibia Tourism Board.

“The real goal of [the Showcase] is to educate people, make them feel more comfortable with selling the destination and knowing the product,” Stroebel Bekker, vice president of sales, North America, for SAA, told PressToday.

After a successful turnout of roughly 90 industry personnel, Amanda Margison, managing partner of On Show Solutions, is already considering spreading to other Canadian cities like Vancouver next year.

“It’s important for us to educate the tour operators and travel agents not only about our products that are well known but also about those unique gems and the unique selling points for each of the tourism destinations,” she says. “The idea is really to get more travellers out of Canada heading to South Africa. The North American market has always been a strong market.”

Pictured at the event (l-r) are Bekker, Margison, and David Chorley, SAA.