May 2024

Africa’s Travel Indaba is a prominent African leisure trade show, owned by South African Tourism, aimed at establishing market access for our vast array of African leisure tourism products.

The 3-day trade show took place in the host province of KwaZulu-Natal at the Durban ICC, synonymous with its warm and inviting coastline and friendly beaches. Thirty-seven of these beaches have become visitors’ favorites because there have been no shark-related fatal incidents reported since the Sharks Board implemented safety measures through shark nets and drumlines.

This year’s show has provided a supreme platform for the Sharks Board to showcase their offerings to international and local buyers, destination marketing companies, and leisure tourism services partners. The show has been the most formidable platform on the continent for the Sharks Board to meet face-to-face with the most influential buyers in the world and to gain access to Africa’s excellence and its endless possibilities. These are the business opportunities and quality connections that will shape the Sharks Board’s tomorrow.

The show was preceded by a dedicated business opportunity networking day through Speed Marketing aimed at providing the Sharks Board with a platform to promote our edutainment product offerings such as Boat Tours, Shark Dissection Shows, Museum, Curio Shop, and Venue hire to over 150 hosted and non-hosted buyers and media attending the show. The Sharks Board exploited this opportunity under the Marine Adventures session.

This year’s Africa Travel Indaba has afforded research students face-to-face interaction with the in-house genetic laboratory, which was established in 2015 and continues to apply various genetic techniques such as demography, phylogeny, phytogeography, population genetics, feeding ecology, and DNA Barcoding to advance the scientific study of sharks and rays. The laboratory plays a critical role in not only promoting internal research projects but more importantly in transferring research skills to interns and postgraduate students.

We are thrilled to be part of the 2024 Africa Travel Indaba. Throughout the three-day event from May 14-16, 2024, an array of business engagements was set to unfold aimed at enticing more travelers to explore KZN as the safest bathing coastline. The show has provided us with an opportunity to interact with members of the media who have displayed interest in the information we provide to the International Shark File and more.

This is an annual international trade show. The 2024 Meetings Africa was the 17th edition of this Business Events Trade Show, owned by South African Tourism, with the specific objective of creating a market access platform for African Business Events Products. The KZN Sharks Board attended the 2024 show as a guest of the KZN Convention Bureau. The Acting Marketing Manager, Mrs. N. Ngubane, attended two days of the show from the 26th to the 27th of February 2024.

The Sharks Board enjoyed the advantage of being a guest, which allowed representatives of the organization to maximize their ability to visit many exhibition stalls to meet various business partners, stakeholders, and alliances.

It was during these various meetings that Mrs. N. Ngubane was able to engage with a very important Tour Operator who has been bringing tourists and visitors to the KZN Sharks Board. These engagements enabled an opportunity for further partnership opportunities, as the Tour Operator was very interested in expanding the services by now providing their clientele with a full package offered by the Sharks Board in the form of early morning boat tours and educational harbour boat cruises for school groups and more partnerships.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION THROUGH BEACH CLEAN-UP ENDED WITH THE LAUNCH OF A RECYCLING CENTRE

The KZN Sharks Board has on the 22 April 2024 joined the international community to mark Earth Day at Dakota Beach located next to Isipingo as we make a commitment to protect our planet. The day was celebrated by a Beach Clean-up initiative project and by the launch of a recycling centre undertaken in partnership with Nkwazi News, DSW, Coca Cola, Polyco, Parks, and Umngeni Water.

This has been one of the initiatives the above organizations had to do in educating communities around the area about the importance of environmental protection against pollution, which is the consequence of reckless dumping by our societies that end up harming our marine life and environment. This has been one of the positive cleaning campaigns at Dakota Beach as this will also create job opportunities for the communities around Dakota Beach who will benefit from the Recycling Centre launched by Nkwazi News.

10,000 YOUTH BENEFICIARIES THROUGH SKILLS REVOLUTION CAMPAIGN

The MEC for Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs, Siboniso Duma, was represented by the MEC for Education, Honourable Mbali Frazer, to interact with more than 10,000 beneficiaries – students and youth in general – trained and developed by EDTEA entities and Chief Directorates. This marked the beginning of a series of outreach programs focusing on the Skills Revolution Campaign and interactions with Tintswalo, the Child of Democracy. The event took place at the Durban Exhibition Centre on 20 April 2024.

With the Skills Revolution Campaign, young people have learned about opportunities and get to know what EDTEA and its entities offer. Through testimonials and career exhibitions, young people and the public at large went back home knowing more about concrete programs being pioneered by the MEC as part of the Skills Revolution. These include internships, bursaries, and school support programs for Grade 11 and Grade 12. Those who have grown from being students to full-fledged professionals gave testimonials during the proceedings of the prosperous event. The Sharks Board was in charge of exhibition stands and assisted students with valuable information about their experiences in entities and EDTEA.

The Moses Kotane Institute pioneered the Skills Revolution Campaign and continued to articulate a deep understanding that research, innovation, science, and technology are crucial tools to be used to stimulate growth and strengthen our economy, eventually ensuring a better life for future generations. The institute has partnered with merSETA and institutions of higher learning. There is a focus on clearing students’ debt.