Julian Asher of Timeless Africa, which has offices in the UK and US, gives his perspective on the recent announcement by SA Tourism that it will not appoint a strategic partner for its tradeshows, including Indaba and Meetings Africa.

As an international buyer who has been attending Indaba since 2007, I have been sorely disappointed by SA Tourism's failure to respond to the concerns repeatedly expressed by both buyers and exhibitors. I continue to find Indaba a useful complement to the more focused shows such as We Are Africa – there is a wider range of exhibitors both from SA and from other parts of the continent – and being able to set my own appointments ensures that I am able to see all of the exhibitors I am most interested in meeting. The decrease in visitor numbers has actually been a plus in some ways as this facilitates longer, more in-depth meetings, which is particularly helpful when meeting with exhibitors with a large product portfolio.

However, just as exhibitors find the cost of attending the proliferation of trade shows prohibitive, buyers struggle with both the amount of time spent away from the office and increasing travel costs. In my view, consolidation of WTM Africa and Indaba would make a lot of sense and the involvement of Thebe Reed would inject sorely needed new life into Indaba.

I am particularly disappointed by how SA Tourism continues to ignore the consistent feedback that Indaba would benefit enormously from being moved to another location, such as Johannesburg. I have nothing against Durban as a tourism destination, but from a conference standpoint the fact remains that Johannesburg is much more accessible for the international buyers SA Tourism aims to attract. Moving to Johannesburg would also significantly reduce transport and accommodation costs for many exhibitors (both South African and international). Finally, relocating would provide a much-needed opportunity to shake things up and rethink the show. I truly do not understand why there has been no serious consideration of relocating the show to a location which would serve both buyers and exhibitors much better than Durban.

The long-standing failure of SA Tourism to listen to the feedback from its two constituencies – buyers and exhibitors – leaves me with little hope that they will be able to successfully rejuvenate Indaba.