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Herald Reporter
The organisers of the 15th edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo have started recruiting exhibitors for this year’s event, and are hopeful new ones will exhibit.
The event will be held virtually from October 27 to 29.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) acting chief executive Mr Givemore Chidzidzi said the registration of exhibitors opened yesterday while the registration of buyers will open on September 23.
The meetings diary will open on October 1.
He said during this year’s expo, there will be a series of webinars to be hosted and they will touch on topical issues including the market perspective webinar where agents from key source markets will share insights on the changing global trends due to the effects of Covid-19.
Last year, over 190 exhibitors registered including 29 foreign exhibitors while over 130 international buyers registered, with over 2 500 one-on-one meetings facilitated.
In 2020, international buyers were from were Australia, the Middle East, China, Asia and Pacific, Europe and Americas and Southern Africa.
Added Mr Chidzidzi: “We have taken into account the challenges that the industry has gone through during the past two years, and we shall be offering the exhibition platform for registered industry players free of charge.
“Only those who are interested in enhancing their exhibition through taking 2d and 3d booths will pay a nominal fee for the booths.
“We encourage the industry to make use of this opportunity and remain connected to the markets through this platform.”
Mr Chidzidzi said they switched to virtual expos last year due to the restrictions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said they saw the need to embrace the ‘new normal’ as they could not continue to be absent in the various key source markets.
“We did an online survey and most of our source markets preferred the virtual exhibition due to travel restrictions. Going forward, due to the inoculation exercise underway we shall be hosting hybrid exhibitions.
“Our virtual system was developed in-house and has since undergone enhancements to include an ‘on-demand’ meeting requests platform,” he said.
Zimbabwe was the first to host a Virtual Tourism Expo in Africa last year.
At this year’s event, there will be live HD video conferencing, virtual auditorium for interactive webinar sessions and 3D virtual exhibitor booths.
The Sanganai /Hlanganani platform has become more user-friendly, and participants can now schedule meetings using their respective time zones.
Zimbabwe has remained connected to the market through various platforms and membership in international associations from key source markets such as Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA), African Travel and Tourism Association (ATTA) UK, and the Anerkannte Spezialisten fuer Afrika-Reisen (ASA), Germany, hence the wide array of quality buyers.
Through the partnerships, the destination has continued to receive the much-needed exposure through engagements that have been facilitated by the associations.
Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo has remained relevant during these trying times and this year’s edition is expected to supersede the success achieved during the 2020 virtual edition.
Online Reporter