As tourism and aviation are resuming at a slow and steady rate amid Covid-19, spotlight workshops and regular travel expos are switching to virtual mode. Joining this trend, Houston Marketing has announced the first virtual travel expo, to be held on the last day of the month. It will promote tourism in Africa & Indian Ocean islands.

South African travel marketing firm Houston Travel Marketing is organising its first virtual travel expo and Spotlight Workshop. Focused on Africa, Spotlight Virtual Travel Expo will be an interactive online event to be held on September 30. Derek Houston, managing director, says that the event has received an astounding response from Africa suppliers, with 35 confirmed exhibitors within two weeks of opening registrations.”We are going to be extremely strict with visitor registrations. Only bona fide buyers such as travel agents, regional and outbound tour operators, incentive DMC’s and corporate travel planners will be approved to attend as we want to ensure really quality meetings,” Huston adds.

Houston says that the virtual travel expo will be an interactive online B2B event enabling exhibitors to connect with buyers from all over Africa. It offers exhibitors the opportunity to re-engage with travel agents and tour operators, meet potential new buyers and update the trade on post-Covid-19 protocols.

As the tourism industry in Africa revives gradually, Spotlight Virtual Travel Expo has decided to offers each exhibitor a special booth with their own branding featuring the logo, graphics, detailed profile, YouTube video, downloading of presentations, social media contacts plus multiple chat facility. Spotlight Virtual Travel Expo will be a one day, six-hour-long exhibition where exhibitors will be able to have one-on-one meeting and discussions with potential buyers.

The organiser has teamed up with Hubilo India, a Gujrat-based  technology firm, known for organising virtual conferences and trade fairs.“Spotlight Virtual Travel Expo is designed to create a true Virtual reality Exhibition experience and will be a more sophisticated experience than a Zoom meeting or a webinar,” Houston concludes.