By Alice Gifford, ATTA Member Advocate
Sixty attendees gathered to network and meet with lodge owners and tour operators at a joint cocktail hosted by Travel Marketing Worldwide and the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) during INDABA, South African Tourism’s annual trade show held in Durban, South Africa on May 8, 2011.
Travel Marketing Worldwide (TMW) represents properties and operators around the world, and on this evening, featured a handful of its 21 African companies during a casual networking function held at the Durban Hilton. With 2-minute presentations from each representative, attendees were presented with a well-rounded offering of safaris, 5-star lodges, coastal hideaways, remote game reserves, conservation projects and cultural encounters.
Sarah Fazendin, who organized the event said, “This was a great opportunity to give voice to the owners and managers of these safari properties and beach lodges, who collectively have created travel experiences across Africa that strongly appeal to the North American traveler. INDABA is all about relationships, and this joint event was hugely successful as attendees made new friends, caught up with old friends and engaged potential business partners.”
ATTA’s VP of Business Development, Chris Chesak closed the presentation portion of the evening with a short overview of ATTA’s goals, highlighting adventure market research and the upcoming Adventure Travel World Summit to be held in Chiapas, Mexico (Oct 17-20, 2011). Networking carried on well into the evening among the attendees from Africa, North America, Europe and beyond.