REPORT: VAKANTIEBEURS (UTRECHT, 13 – 18 JANUARY 2009) AND SAT TRADE WORKSHOP (BREDA, 20 – 21 JANUARY 2009) IN THE NETHERLANDS
PURPOSE The purpose of this report is to provide feedback regarding the participation of Tourism KwaZuluNatal at Vakantiebuers. BACKGROUND Tourism KwaZulu-Natal participated at the Vakantiebeurs, an annual consumer travel show from 13 to 18 January and Trade Workshop from 20 to 21 January 2009 in the Netherlands. The Netherlands remains SA and KZN’s core market is currently the tenth most important overseas market for KZN. The country is also one of the powerhouses in soccer and their fans are well travelled in the history of World Cup. There is a growth potential in this market pre and post 2010 VAKANTIEBEURS VISITORS The show attracted 132 961 visitors over six days this year. A detailed visitor fact sheet is attached. Day Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Total TRADE DAY Tuesday, 13 January was dedicated to trade and media visitors. SAT organised a network dinner on the South African pavilion where all participants interacted with trade and press visitors. Several leads were made with key media, trade (both leisure and MICE) and will be captured in the foreign friends database. KEY HIGHLIGHTS KZN stand attracted about 200 visitors a day and it was discovered that the majority are independent travellers and prefer booking trips themselves. Currently, the Dutch Trade is offering a round trip which starts in Johannesburg, Kruger National Park, Swaziland, Hluhluwe, Durban, Port Elizabeth (Garden Route through to Cape Town) and back to the Netherlands. Through our interaction with the trade, it was evident that they are looking for new destinations to expand their offering. As for the consumers especially repeaters, they are looking for exiting new packages. Visitors
14,422 17,361 21,071 29,741 26,895 23,471
132 961
KEY INTERESTS • • • • • • Wildlife. Snorkelling. Diving sites. Horse riding sites. 2010 readiness. Travel packages/itineraries for Independent Traveller.
SOUTH AFRICAN TOURISM TRADE WORKSHOP South African Tourism coordinated a two-day trade workshop from 20-21 January 2009 in Breda where we engaged 44 trade members from Netherlands and Belgium. The objective of the workshops was to increase the knowledge within both the Belgian and Dutch trade industry and empower them to sell South Africa with confidence. Fam trips, online training and in-house training were been done frequently in both markets but the knowledge base especially about key product offering in provinces is lacking. Some of the trade from these two markets are already selling South Africa and those not selling have shown interest. Due to the success of the workshop, it has been agreed that SAT will keep the event in their annual calendar. Furthermore, the workshop will be followed by trade familiarization trips to South Africa. The list of trade participants and enquires is attached. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The current economic climate is affecting all markets however it was discovered that most of the Dutch market plan their trips between two to three years in advance. There’s a demand for value for money destination and long haul trips are key for this market. An opportunity exists for KZN trade to develop key independent traveller packages to be marketed at this exhibition.
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