Caution was the watchword as journalists, tourists and exhibitors landed at Oliver Thambo Airport, Johannesburg early on May 9 for Tourism Indaba 2015 after the South Africa Tourism has dispelled fears about the Xenophobia attack which threatened the annual world trade travel.
As the Ghanaians and Nigerian contingents board the South African Airways from Johannesburg to Durban, discussions were centered on the safety and the need for caution in Durban which in recent times has been in the news because of Xenophobia.
The palpable fear was immediately dispelled by the allure and the warmth of Durban right from the airport. The festive environment and friendliness of the people was captured by the Zulu dancers clad in their native attire dancing to the drum beats that rent the air, that was the first thing that welcomes visitors at the airport. These were enough evidence that the city of Durban is ready to host the various nationals coming for Tourism Indaba and Durban was her old self despite the palpable fear of Xenophobia – Durban city, a tourist delight!
The opening ceremony of the 35th Indaba travel expo at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Center, Durban, South Africa from May 9-11, 2015 was electrifying and had the crowd deeply enmeshed in it from the start to the end of the programme at 8pm.
The irresistible and spectacular music and dance of Afro Tenors, Beatenberg, Fiesta Black, George Avakian, Jaziel brothers, the Kwazulu Natal Gospel Choir, Nigeria’s MI (Aka Jude Abaga) and Ntokozo Mbambo thrilled the audience. Sauti Sol, the Kenyan Afro pop band whose video on ‘Nishike’ was named by Google as the most watched music video in Kenya for 2014 lived up to expectation as they almost brought the roof down as the mammoth crowd shouted and urged them on and on.
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Derek Hanekom, South Africa Tourism Minister highly elated enthused, “This is the first opportunity I’ve to engage the widest cross of the tourism industry in one place.” He urged for Africa integration in trade and travels.
Hosted media all over the world the day after the opening were made to experience Durban outside the trade halls as we were divided into four groups. The tour will enable them to experience the different facet of the city and its surround with activities ranging from shark cage, diving, culture and heritage immersion, rickshaw ride on Durban’s famous beachfront.
The leader of one of our team, Gizela Da Silva Petersen, a 22 year old female undergraduate student of Psychology from University of South Africa, Pretoria, presided over an election in which Ikechi Uko-the promoter of Akwaaba Travel Market from Nigeria was unanimously elected as our team captain. She informed our team of our assigned tasks which included mastering the first four lines of the South African National Anthem before we got to the local market. On getting to the local market, we recited the anthem to the admiration of the locals who also took pictures with us.
In a chat with me, Gizela said, “The Tourism Indaba was an absolutely amazing experience for me. My highlight overall was the ‘Amazing Race Challenge’, where delegates from all over the world were placed into groups and sent off on exciting journey’s where they experienced Durban through exciting challenges and clues. My team was the yellow group, which were people from Angola, Nigeria, Ghana and New Zealand. We had so much fun during our challenge and tour from visiting the market to riding rickshaw’s and bicycles on the beach. I had such a great time and learned to ride a bicycle for the first time. Although time was limited, we made the best of every minute and I grew fond of the delegates and their various personalities. I wish to cross paths again with them in the near future”.
All the various groups met again later that day when it was time to wine and dine. We had the opportunity to interact freely as we shared our experiences of the city tour with a competition to determine the best group of the day to further spice up the evening.
First published in May 2015, Inside Watch Africa (IWA) Vol 3 No 7
