Tourist companies including hotels and lodges operating companies mostly from East Africa and other countries in Southern Africa are expected to participate in the 2-day exhibition to be staged from October 11 to 13 at Mlimani City, the famous shopping and recreational area in Tanzania’s commercial capital. Organized by the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), the exhibition will focus mostly on inbound and outbound travel to and within Africa.
TTB Director General Mr. Ephraim Mafuru said this week that the exhibition targets tourism and travel professionals from all over the world basically to promote Tanzania’s tourism to international markets. The exhibition has been planned to facilitate the linking of companies based in Tanzania as well as Eastern and Central Africa with tourism companies from other parts of the world, he said.
SITE will have the character of a business networking event for the tourism industry, with components of a social dimension to attract local people, families, and experts at the weekend. The focus of this event extends to various significant aspects of the tourism industry, including marketing, sustainability, conservation, and other market-related issues. Established since 2014, SITE has evolved into a credible and influential platform for tourism networking and business transactions in Tanzania and Africa.
As in previous editions, the exhibition is expected to draw a diverse audience of tourism and travel professionals from around the world, reinforcing its role as a vital bridge for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in East Africa to connect with international tourism markets.
Every business to be showcased in the forthcoming SITE 2024 will be joining this unrivaled national, regional and worldwide network of quality tourism exhibitors, investors, and buyers who will drive business opportunities from every corner of the world. The expo offers great opportunities to all local and international tourism operators and investors to diversify their businesses and tourism products, promote new products, expand their business to new tourism circuits/new routes, grow their businesses beyond borders, and increase profitability. It will be styled as a business networking event for the tourism industry, with components of social dimensions to attract local people, families, and experts during the weekend.
Exhibitors are expected to participate in the event as well as international hosted buyers from key and leading tourist markets mostly from the United States of America (USA), Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Last year’s SITE had attracted hosted buyers and exhibitors from Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Spain, Poland, India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Kenya, Russia, Czech Republic, and China, among other nations.
Participants and visitors to the exhibition are expected to attend the networking and business discussions then visit leading tourist attractive sites in Tanzania including Mount Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti, Selous Game Reserve, and the island of Zanzibar. The expo will also attract familiarization (FAM) trips to Gombe chimpanzee park, Mikumi, Udzungwa and Ruaha national parks, organizers said.
