Representation by the South African tourism industry has increased at this year’s ITB Berlin, taking place from March 8-12.

South African exhibitors have increased to 52 from last year’s 42. Among those attending are 1 000 leading travel buyers from around the world.

At ITB Berlin, Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom and South African Tourism CEO, Sisa Ntshona, will make a case to members of the global travel trade and international media to further position South Africa as a preferred leisure and business events destination, to contribute to the acceleration of inclusive growth of the tourism economy. 

Germany is South Africa’s second-largest European source market after the United Kingdom and SA Tourism plans to take advantage of this with more skills development. “The number of German tourists coming to South Africa grew at an impressive rate of 21.5% and, for this reason, we are planning to train even more local tour guides to add to the 400-plus who already speak German in order for us to better cater for German tourists,” said Ntshona.