Durban — iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority walked away with a platinum award during Africa’s Travel Indaba held in Durban earlier this month.
In a statement, iSimangaliso’s marketing and brand manager Thandi Shabalala said: “Winning this award at an event of this magnitude means a lot to us as iSimangaliso and we appreciate all the organisations and individuals involved in staging this prominent event.”
iSimangaliso spokesperson Bheki Manzini said that for the first time being nominated, iSimangaliso Wetland Park scooped the Platinum Award in the Green Stands Exhibitors Awards small stand category at Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) event.
The award honours innovation, freshness, professionalism, use of natural resources and product knowledge, among others. However, this year the award also honoured those tourism businesses and organisations that have advanced tourism during a time of unprecedented technological and industry change.
Manzini said that winning the award comes after iSimangaliso joined hundreds of tourism exhibitors at Africa’s Travel Indaba 2023.
He said that Africa’s Travel Indaba is a great platform and time to showcase the best of the African continent at this event, especially as Africa celebrates Africa Month.
He also said that Africa Travel Indaba is the largest tourism marketing event on the African calendar and one of the top three events of its kind in the world. The event is owned by South African Tourism, with a specific objective of creating market access for the vast array of Africa’s tourism products.
“iSimangaliso Tourism and Business Development team took up the opportunities to network with industry leaders from around the world during the three days of the ATI. Inspiring meetings were held with buyers and various media houses. Connections were also made with co-exhibitors looking at opportunities to link up efforts on various development programmes and how to learn from one another,” Manzini said.
He added that pre and post-Indaba familiarisation tours to iSimangaliso are not taken lightly, as these give tourism buyers the experience and perspective they need over and above the verbal discussions at the meetings held.
“iSimangaliso wishes to send the greatest appreciation to the South African Tourism, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal and the local tourism businesses in iSimangaliso who continue to contribute to ensuring these tours are a success, representing the entire region,” he said.
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