INDABA 2016: Johannesburg ing ayunan lengkap ngumumake akeh kemitraan

Johannesburg Tourism will be in full swing at Indaba 2016, not only promoting its #Welcome2Jozi domestic tourism awareness campaign, but also formalizing important industry partnerships to promote visitor numbers to Joburg.

The City’s destination marketing organisation will be exhibiting at Indaba from the 07th – 09th May 2016. INDABA is one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar and one of the top three ‘must visit’ events of its kind on the global calendar. It showcases the widest variety of Southern Africa’s best tourism products, and attracts international buyers and media from across the world.

“Joburg Tourism’s priority will not only be to expand upon the leisure and lifestyle appeal and activities which the City offers, but also to ensure that the trade understands that Joburg is so much more than just a business destination or stop-over en route to other exotic locations,” says Nabintu Petsana, Head of Joburg Tourism.

“We aim to create top of mind awareness of Joburg offerings as an all year round sports, shopping, fashion, lifestyle, mega events, heritage, arts and culture destination of choice in Africa.”

UNION PAY PARTNERSHIP

Represented by UnionPay International representative Xing Gan and Joburg Tourism’s Head, Nabintu Petsana, the two entities will utilise Indaba 2016 to sign a Strategic Memorandum of Understanding to jointly promote the acceptance of UnionPay cards, optimize the card-using environment and provide more convenient services to UnionPay cardholders visiting Johannesburg.

The signing of the MOU between Joburg Tourism and Union Pay will take place at the Joburg Tourism Stand (DEC 1D31) at the Durban Exhibition Centre, on Saturday, 7 May from 15h30 to 17h00.

The two parties will also conduct joint marketing activities to increase popularity of Johannesburg tourism services and products among Chinese tourists.

With 5.2 billion cards in issue and a presence in 150 countries, UnionPay is larger than Visa and MasterCard combined.

More than 100 000 of UnionPay cards have been issued in 48 African countries.
Two South African banking institutions – First National Bank and Standard Bank – are already in partnership with UnionPay. Absa, which entered the scheme in January, will start processing payments in June this year.

Every month, more than 14 000 Chinese tourists, most of whom are UnionPay card-carrying members, visit South Africa.

China has become South Africa’s fourth largest overseas resources market. Statistics from the China Tourism Academy also show that China surpassed Germany and the US as the biggest market for outbound tourism in 2012. China will have more than 400 million outbound tourists in the next five years; on average a Chinese tourist spends $6 200 (nearly R100 000) on a 10-day trip.

As Chinese tourists travel groups and have high spending power, they are a sought after tourism market sector.

Joburg Tourism is working with local tourism industry players, encouraging them to embrace the Union Pay partnership, which will also be promoted when the marketing team participate in international Asian tradeshows.

EVENTS CALENDAR LAUNCH

In partnership with Gauteng Tourism, Joburg Tourism will be launching the City’s Events Calendar 2016 at the Tourism Indaba 2016 in Durban. This is set to take place on Sunday, 8 May at Lambert House in Florida Road, from 18h00 – 20h00.

“Events are one of the biggest contributors to the tourism sector, particularly in Joburg, attracting people from all over the country and the continent to our City,” says Nabintu Petsana, Head of Joburg Tourism.

Many events that take place in the City have grown over the years and have contributed and boosted the local economy significantly. These events are a major draw card on the City’s social and tourism calendar and give the province an opportunity to showcase its wide range of offerings.

Events such as the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, Gauteng Summer Cup, Tribute Concert, Go West Heritage Week, Vaal River Carnival, Eid Shopping Festival, Land Rover Africa Polo Cup, Soweto Wine Festival, FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg Shopping Festival, Spring Fiesta, to mention but a few, attract both local and international visitors, significantly boosting revenue throughout the tourism value chain and creating employment opportunities in so doing.

“Gathering at the Indaba 2016 (Lambert House, 210 Lambert Road off Florida Road Morningside) will give our celebrated events and event organizers the opportunity to showcase their fascinating events and provide opportunities to create attractive packages to increase visitor numbers to Joburg,” says Petsana.

Joburg’s boasts an extraordinary array of arts and cultural festivals, exhibitions, expos, trade fairs and the many great sports events that take place at our world-class stadiums. These include test cricket at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Currie Cup rugby at Ellis Park Stadium, and soccer at FNB Stadium, which also plays host to major entertainment events and concerts by local and international music stars.

Joburg plays host to major music events annually. In 2014 Johannesburg played host to 2638 music concerts, while from January to mid November 2015, 2001 music events took place in the city. Among Joburg’s top music venues are the FNB Stadium, the Coca-Cola Dome, the Bassline and The Orbit.

Many of the world’s musical greats have performed or are soon performing in Johannesburg. Among these are John Legend, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Rodriguez, Roxette, Kenny Rogers, Michael Buble, Usher, Alanis Morissette, Josh Groban, George Benson, Alicia Keys, ZZ Top, Michael Jackson and Farrell Williams.

Joburg is home to the iconic 94 736-seater FNB stadium, the largest venue in South Africa. It has hostedsome of the biggest international and local events including Memorial Service for Tata Nelson Mandela, musical acts including U2, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. It also plays host to major sporting events such as the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup ™, the African Cup of Nations final in 2013, as well as major football matches like the popular Soweto Derby that involves two South African Premier Soccer League football giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

Johannesburg hosts by far the greatest number of lifestyle expos in South Africa. In 2015, Johannesburg hosted 134 lifestyle expos up from 103 in 2014