Following a four-year hiatus, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal’s Travel Academy returns with the aim of showcasing KwaZulu-Natal as the destination of choice.
The workshop, hosted by TKZN in collaboration with Durban Tourism and Avis Rental will take place in Durban from March 14 - 18.
According to the tourism agency responsible for promoting KZN, the event is a two-day workshop where KZN tourism business owners will present their products to tour operators and then get to experience tours of the different travel itineraries available in the province.
This year, 24 influential inbound tour operators from South Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will discover why KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) should be on their travel itineraries and will get exposed to the KZN South Coast, water and land safaris on the Elephant Coast and the scenic value of the Drakensberg and cultural heritage sites of the Battlefields all in KZN.
TKZN highlighted that these travel companies are major inbound tour operators that package and sell travel bookings through international tour operators, who already sell Southern Africa destinations to international tourists.
In its execution of promoting KZN as a favourable tourist destination, TKZN recently attended ITB Berlin in Germany and exhibited alongside South African Tourism (SAT), Durban Tourism, Enterprise Ilembe and other tourism trade partners.
It worked to attract more tourists from the German market, which is the third biggest international traveller source market for South Africa and the second biggest international market for KZN after the UK.
Commenting on this, TKZN Acting CEO Sibusiso Gumbi, said TKZN must influence all levels of the travel value chain in order to effectively market and promote KwaZulu-Natal internationally.
“Whether we are at international travel exhibitions or hosting major travel companies and agents in KZN, we are building meaningful relationships to ensure that the province is featured in travel packages, and that agents have the knowledge to sell KZN to their clients,” said Gumbi.