INDABA 2015: Soul of the African Tourism Industry

Indaba is an important conference held by the izinDuna (principal men) of the Zulu or Xhosa peoples of South Africa.

(Such meetings are also practised by the Swazi, who refer to them using the close cognate indzaba.) These indabas may include only the izinDuna of a particular community or may be held with representatives of other communities.

The word- Indaba comes from a Zulu language word, meaning “business” or “matter.

A number of ‘indabas’ take place annually in South Africa; these include the design, tourism and “baba” indabas. The Design Indaba is an annual cultural conference held in Cape Town in late February or early March. It has also been referred to as the ‘Conference on Creativity’.

Design Indaba was established in 1995 and runs alongside a design expo of South African design, a film festival and a series of other workshops, parties and functions, organised by Design Indaba. Design Indaba is the largest event of its kind, and in 2013 contributed R326-million to the country’s GDP. The attendance of Design Indaba 2012 (including the conference, expo and subsidiary events) was over 50 000.

Since 2006 the ‘Baba Indaba’ baby and parenting expo has attracted tens of thousands of new parents to exhibitions in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban and Bloemfontein. The name ‘Baba Indaba’ has been derived from the
Afrikaans word ‘Baba’ meaning baby and ‘Indaba’ The Tourism Indaba is a gathering of all those involved in the African tourism industry. The Tourism Indaba is one of the top three tourism marketing events on the global calendar and the largest in Africa and it attracts thousands of delegates, visitors and media representatives from across the globe. This Indaba takes place in Durban every year.

INDABA 2015 is expected to be the biggest travel and tourism trade show on the African continent as more than 900 meetings has already been scheduled using the INDABA Business Matchmaking Programme.

With less than 60 days to go, buyers and exhibitors are gearing up for INDABA 2015. Key to these success factors is the INDABA 2015 Online Diary and Matchmaking System. This service is already giving buyers and exhibitors (INDABA delegates) a platform to plan their INDABA meetings and extract optimal business value from the trade show.

These tools enable buyers and exhibitors to view and select companies they would like to meet, and confirm their meetings before the event kicks off on 9 May 2015.

At INDABA every moment is a chance to make new connections, pick up handy tips on how to better market your travel and tourism product, and learn how to take advantage of social media and other digital platforms to do all the above.

“INDABA is the soul of the African tourism industry. It is the single most important event in the year to drive the industry, and the continent forward. The INDABA 2015 Online Diary and Matchmaking System have, over the years, proved to be key platforms in linking exhibitors and buyers that are serious about maximising their time at the show,” says South African Tourism CEO, Mr Thulani Nzima.

Both the Matchmaking and Diary components of the system are available at no additional cost to all exhibitors, delegates and visitors. Users need to set up a profile that includes detailed information about their company and meeting requirements. This information is then used intelligently to match their profile to the right individuals.
A private online report is generated that enables the user to view companies matching their profile and use it as a basis to set up meetings.

“Last year, 19 399 meetings were set up using these tools. This is proof of just how valuable this digital platform is, and its critical role in INDABA’s success. Taking into account user feedback, these tools have been further optimised for INDABA 2015,” Mr Nzima says.