
In the heart of Gaborone, travel enthusiasts, industry professionals, and stakeholders recently converged at the esteemed Spotlight Travel Expo Gaborone Workshop 2024, on February 16, 2024.
This vibrant event served as a platform for fostering connections, sharing insights, and envisioning the future of travel in the region and beyond. With a focus on outbound overseas travel from Botswana, Inter-regional travel from Botswana to South Africa and other African countries & Indian Ocean islands, and Domestic travel within Botswana, the workshop provided a dynamic space for discourse and exploration within the travel industry.
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF SPOTLIGHT
The Spotlight Workshop concept was developed in 2000 to assist the tourism community in the rest of Africa in gaining a foothold in the South African outbound market. The founder saw a great need to introduce local operators to the major travel agents and tour operators to allow them to network and create business opportunities. At the same time, there was a tremendous shortfall in information on the tourism potential of Africa within the South African travel industry and, of course, the perception that it was unsafe to travel to Africa.
In the past, many hotel groups and tour operators in Africa did not realize the potential of the South African outbound market and viewed the American and European markets as more important and profitable. Events over the past five years have shown them that the international market can be very fickle, while the South African market has proven to be more stable and less affected by incidents, security concerns, and so much more.
The basic principle of Spotlight is to invite a diverse range of tourism organizations from all over Africa to meet travel agents, tour operators, incentive travel companies, professional conference organizers, and corporate travel buyers in each centre.