Following our highly successful Spotlight Virtual TravelExpo’s on 30 September and 04 November, which in total attracted 60 Exhibitors and 300 Buyers from 25 countries, we are pleased to announce that our next Spotlight Virtual TravelExpo on 25 February will focus specifically on East African countries
Spotlight Virtual East Africa TravelExpo is designed to create a real Exhibition experience with Pre-scheduled Appointments and B2B Zoom type meetings.
Spotlight on East Africa Virtual TravelExpo will promote:
- Inbound Tourism from Overseas countries to East African countries
- Inbound Tourism from African countries into East Africa
- Inter-regional Travel within East Africa (i.e. From Uganda to Kenya; Rwanda to Tanzania etc. and vice versa)
While nothing can beat a face-to-face workshop – VIRTUAL for the moment has become the new normal and very important way to communicate with your Trade partners within Africa and overseas.
Spotlight Virtual will attract buyers representing:
- Overseas-based Africa Tour Operators who sell East African programmes
- Southern African & Rest of Africa IATA Travel Agents and Outbound/Regional Tour Operators who specifically sell East African destinations for Leisure, Business Travel, Meetings & Incentives
- East African IATA Travel Agents who sell Outbound Corporate Travel and Leisure packages to other East African countries
- East African Inbound Tour Operators will only be accepted as Buyers provided they actively promote programmes to other East African countries (e.g a Tanzanian Inbound DMC who advertises Ugandan/Rwandan Programmes on their website)
We expect 150 – 200 Overseas/Africa Trade Buyers to register
How will Spotlight Virtual TravelExpo work?
- Travel Trade Buyers will register online like a normal workshop and then receive a login and password
- Buyers will then complete their profile details on the buyers platform. They can then visit the expo from their laptop, desktop, mobile phone or iPad/tablet (Chrome/Firefox/Mozilla or Opera are the best browsers to use – Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge are NOT recommended)
- Buyers can only make appointments with exhibitors. Exhibitors can make appointments with buyers and fellow exhibitors.
- A week before the start of the TravelExpo the Pre-scheduled Meetings Platform will open whereby buyers and exhibitors can request appointments with each other
- The Multiple Chat Facility can also be used to communicate with buyers and other exhibitors
- Exhibitors can use video, PDF brochures and images to enhance their booths and strengthen their marketing message
- The duration of the Virtual TravelExpo will be one full day – See Programme below
- All Exhibitors are sent full contact details of the buyers registered on the platform after the Expo. Registration details will include full contact details, type of company, countries/products they are interested in meeting
How will Buyers be invited to attend Spotlight on East Africa Virtual TravelExpo?
- Houston Travel Marketing will send email invitations to all previous Spotlight attendees from all our workshops and Virtual TravelExpos –over 2000 people!
- Various Media Partners will be appointed as Official Media Sponsors and will be sending invites to their databases of Travel Trade in Africa & Overseas
- Spotlight on East Africa Virtual TravelExpo will therefore have a global travel trade audience not just Africa trade as we have access to various databases of Travel Agents and Tour Operators in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific etc.
- Houston Travel Marketing will use all our Social Media platforms to invite the trade to attend. We will also post invitations on various other Travel Trade Social Media platforms
- Houston Travel Marketing will embark on an extensive PR campaign sending press releases to various Trade Associations and Travel Media in Africa & Overseas
- Frequent updates will be sent to registered buyers with details of exhibitors etc.
- Buyers will be able to view Exhibitors profiles & contact details on the Spotlight website as from 01 February.
How Many Buyers will attend?
For the two 2020 Spotlight Virtual Workshop 300 Buyers from 25 countries registered to attend. These included buyers from Kenya, Australia, USA, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Italy, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Czech Republic, Romania, Ethiopia, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Nigeria, Finland, Israel, India, Uganda, Canada and Mozambique, Lithuania, Mauritius, Phillipines and UAE
Who should participate as Exhibitors?
Only Exhibitors with products/services in East African countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia & Burundi) will be accepted to exhibit at Spotlight on East Africa Virtual TravelExpo, including:
- Hotels
- Resorts & Safari Lodges
- Car Rental
- International & Regional Airlines
- East African Tourist Boards
- East Africa-based Inbound or Regional DMC’s
- Tourism Services Companies
We expect 35 Exhibitors to participate
Provisional Programme
Thursday 25 February
- 08h00: Welcome address
- 08h15 – 10h00: Pre-scheduled Meetings – early start to accommodate Asia Pacific & Australian Buyers
- 10h00 – 10h30: Presentation by Gold Sponsor (Meeting schedules blocked for this half hour)
- 10h30 – 16h30: Scheduled Meetings
- 16h00 – 16h30: Presentation by Sponsor (Meeting schedules blocked for this half hour)
- 16h30 – 21h30: Scheduled Meetings – late close to accommodate North and South American buyers
Friday 26 February – reserve day
- 09h00 – 13h00: For re-scheduled or missed appointments or no-shows due to connectivity or power outage problems
Match-making and Pre-scheduled Appointments
On 17th February the meetings platform will open for Buyers and Exhibitors
Exhibitors can view profiles, search, filter and sort Buyers list and request meetings at available time slots of a Buyer.
Buyers can also search, explore Exhibitor Booths, download collateral material, watch videos and request meetings from Exhibitor Representatives.
Exhibitors and buyers can then accept, reject and reschedule meetings.
Match Making: The Platform suggests Top 10 buyers that Exhibitors should meet based on the Buyer Profile which details Areas/Products of Interest.
What is included in your Booth price?
- Branded Virtual Exhibitor Booth: Your Exhibitor Booth can be branded with a video or graphic banner, product pictures, and a full description of your offering.
- Video and Brochure Uploads: You can have additional video links, brochures and presentations uploaded to your exhibitor booth.
- Social Media Links: Add your Linked-in; Facebook; Twitter and Instagram profile pages to your booth.
- Multi-chat Facility: You can chat to other exhibitors and buyers using the Multi-chat Facility.
- 49 x 1 to 1 Meetings: Each Representative receives an online meeting Diary with 49 appointments. Additional Meeting Diaries are available at a cost of USD40 per representative. Please note: It is not ideal for representatives to share Meeting Diaries
- Interactive Events Feed: You have access to the Event Feed to promote your products, run polls and interact with other participants.
Additional Options and Sponsorships:
Sponsorship Options Gold Sponsor: USD400
- Sponsor Booth and complimentary Exhibitor Booth
- Logo on the Spotlight website and Exhibitor directory
- Scroller Banner on every platform screen
- Booth highlighted on Exhibitor screen
- News Feed announcements throughout the TravelExpo
- Banner on Buyer Attendee Registration Profile Page & on email invitations
- One 30 Minute Seminar
Seminar Room - 30 Minute Presentation: USD175
- Ideal for Tourist Boards etc to do a 30-minute video or Live Presentation to up to 50 Buyers. The Seminar Screen will be branded with your logo and your time-slot can be viewed on the Programme highlighted on the Reception Screen.
- We will also advertise the various Seminars on our Event News Feed Platform.
- Your Exhibitor Booth will be highlighted on the Exhibitors screen.
- A scroller banner advertising your seminar is also included
There will only be 2 presentations during the day and meeting slots will be blocked to ensure maximum attendance
Banners/Scrollers:
USD50 per banner
We are also offering a large banner continuously scrolling on the top of each page on the platform for 10 hours each day: The banner would probably appear once every 5 minutes and be visible for 10 seconds.
Additional Meeting Diaries: USD40 per representative
Additional Meeting Diaries can be booked if you would like more than one representative at your stand.
