Africa’s biggest tourism trade showcase officially opened in Durban on Monday, with government leaders, tourism businesses and delegates from across the continent gathering to discuss how Africa can grow its tourism economy and strengthen partnerships.
The opening day of Africa’s Travel Indaba 2026 began with Business Opportunity Networking Day (BONDay), where discussions focused on tourism innovation, sports tourism, culture, infrastructure and digital transformation under the theme “Unlimited Africa: Growing Africa’s Tourism Economy”. Speaking at the opening session, Deputy Minister of Tourism Maggie Sotyu said tourism continues to play a major role in economic growth across the continent despite ongoing challenges.“Tourism remains one of the continent’s most powerful economic drivers, creating jobs, attracting investment, stimulating entrepreneurship, and connecting Africa to the world,” Sotyu said.
She said Africa’s tourism sector was moving beyond recovery and entering a new phase of expansion. “This year’s theme, Unlimited Africa: Growing Africa’s Tourism Economy, is both an aspiration and a strategic call to action,” she said. Sotyu also highlighted the importance of partnerships between governments and the private sector to improve tourism growth, infrastructure and investment opportunities across the continent. “Africa’s tourism growth cannot be delivered by government alone, nor by the private sector in isolation,” she said.
The event, hosted in Durban from 11 to 14 May, is expected to bring together ministers, buyers, exhibitors, media and tourism leaders from around the world. Corne Koch said this year’s programme aims to position Africa as a leading global tourism destination while opening discussions around new opportunities within the sector. Today, Africa’s Travel Indaba officially begins in KwaZulu-Natal province in the city of Durban marking the start of one of the continent’s most important tourism and trade platforms and setting the stage for a powerful week of business, collaboration, innovation, and African storytelling,” Koch said.
She added that BONDay would focus on issues including entrepreneurship, destination competitiveness, sports tourism and digital innovation. One of the discussions that attracted attention on Monday focused on sports tourism and its growing role in attracting travellers and boosting local economies. Andiswa Nkonzo from Avis Rent-A-Car said she hoped the event would encourage stronger collaboration between African countries and improve travel across the continent. “I just want to see the collaboration from all the African countries, basically, so that we can have easy access of traveling around Africa,” Nkonzo said.
She also raised concerns about road infrastructure and potholes affecting travel experiences in some parts of the continent. “Since I am in the car rental industry, there’s a lot of damages and a lot of potholes around the continent. So if we can have maybe a solution to that issue as well,” she said.Nkonzo said discussions around sports tourism changed her perspective on the sector and opened new opportunities for investment. “Sports is now tourism. Quite an interesting topic. Looking forward to actually investing more into sports tourism,” she said, referring to upcoming major sporting events including the Comrades Marathon.
Delegates attending the event also said the platform offered opportunities to better understand tourism trends and products across Africa. Zakhele Sumbana, a tourism entrepreneur from Mozambique, said he attended BONDay to gather information that would help travellers from his country explore more destinations and experiences in South Africa. “Usually people travel to the same place, come and shopping, but when you ask about the history, culture and other things, they don’t know because there’s no information,” Sumbana said.
He said tourism businesses needed to provide travellers with more diverse experiences including township tourism, restaurants, sports and cultural attractions. “That’s why I came here, to really get information about this so I can provide to prospective clients back home,” he said. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to officially open the main Travel Indaba programme on Tuesday, where tourism is expected to be positioned as a key economic driver for both South Africa and the African continent.
