The dates for Africa’s Travel Indaba have been brought forward to May 2 to 4, remaining at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban.

This is due to the SA President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing at his State Of The Nation Address (SONA) that the national elections would take place on May 8 – falling in the middle of the original Indaba dates of May 6 to 9.

CEO of SA Tourism, Sisa Ntshona, set up a task team immediately following this announcement to explore all viable options, deciding that it was best to move the Indaba forward by four days.

“The national election is the cornerstone of our democracy, and is a celebration of our freedom in South Africa,” says Ntshona. “It’s an important date and occasion for all South Africans and we need to acknowledge and respect the date.”

“At the same time, I must express my heartfelt gratitude to the tourism industry for their understanding of the situation,” continued Ntshona. “I have received many calls, emails and texts with advice and support. I am really impressed to experience how the tourism sector gets together. I also want to thank the Indaba Organising Committee involved with Indaba – they are Tourism KwaZulu Natal, ICC and eThekwini (Durban Tourism) – for being accommodating with regards to the change.”

CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, said that comprehensive views of the sector were presented to the task team, with the key aim being to get the new date out as quickly as possible.

“We will now work with all our trade partners to ensure that there is smooth transition into the new date as many would’ve had plans in place already for the previous date. We still have a key role to play in achieving Indaba’s objectives of selling South Africa and the continent to the rest of the world,” added Tshivhengwa.