Strengthening the Gothenburg connection
04 March 2011
The Tur 2011 takes place from March 24 to 27 and is one of the biggest events of its type. Hosted at the Swedish Exhibition Centre (Svenska Mässan) and organised by Sweden's leading trade fair organizer Svenska Mässan the exhibition has a distinct international flavour – drawing close on 50 000 people over the four-day period.
The vision behing Tur is the creation of world-class meetings for the travel, tourism and meetings industries, say organisers.
“Nelson Mandela Bay already has a 13-year relationship with its Swedish sister city, Gothenburg where the trade fair takes place,” said Titus Chuene, NMBT marketing manager. “We are therefore going to Tur for two reasons.
“Firstly is to exhibit and Market Nelson Mandela Bay at this key event on the international tourism diary. Secondly we are there to strengthen and build on our relationship with the city administration and tourism bodies, so that we might share ideas and lessons.”
Chuene noted that they would be meeting with the city administration and the arm of government that deals with events whilst in the country to discuss how they could learn from them, particularly through case studies.
“Gothenburg is very strong on events organisation and promotion. They are using events to drive tourism and that is exactly the vision of Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism, and our city – we want to use major events as a tourism drawcard. We are already doing so by supporting the likes of the IRB Sevens bid for Nelson Mandela Bay, but we can learn a lot from Gothenburg while we there.”
The cooperation with Port Elizabeth began in 1998 and is a partnership fostering development of common fields of interest such as solid waste management, public libraries, sport and tourism.
Mandlakzai Skefile, NMBT chief executive, added that they would be making contact with the Gothenburg University to see how they could strengthen linkages between it and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, particularly on tourism-related studies.
Exhibitors at Tur are drawn from foreign and domestic tourism promotion organizations, cultural heritage organizations, tour operators, agencies and accommodation centres, recreational complexes, airlines, cruises, railways, travel equipment, training centres, publications and cultural departments of embassies – representing some 112 countries.
People and organisations visiting Tur include travel trade members, corporate and business travel decision makers, leisure and holiday travellers, national and international representatives from hospitality industry, travel planners and more.
The Thursday and Friday are devoted to trade visitors, the Saturday and Sunday to the general public. On trade days, the focus is on meetings, establishing new business contacts, maintaining current contacts, finding new products, new services and trends.
TUR's focus on the rapidly growing meetings industry has made Meetings@TUR one of the industry's most important meeting places, added organisers.
”A strange conincidence between Nelson Mandela Bay and Gothenburg is that Swedes have voted Gothenburg as the friendliest city in Sweden – ring any bells aboout our Friendly City,” quipped an excited Chuene ahead of the event.
Author: Amy Shelver
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