South African Airways And On Show Solutions Taking The North America Showcase To South Africa

New Destination Travel Trade Show To Open Business Opportunities

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Oct 21, 2014, 12:00 ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. and JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- South African Airways (SAA), Africa's most awarded airline, and South Africa-based event specialist On Show Solutions, have introduced a new marketing platform for North American travel suppliers that represent tourism destinations, convention & visitors bureaus, hotels & resorts, cruise lines and sightseeing attractions in the U.S. & Canada to target tour operators and travel agents in South Africa. In March 2015, the North America Showcase will travel to key cities in South Africa to meet with travel specialists selling North America as a business and leisure destination.

South Africa is the economic powerhouse of Africa with Johannesburg as the gateway for the continent. The North America Showcase is designed for travel companies that are already receiving South African business to boost their business network. For companies looking for new markets, the North America Showcase will facilitate introductions with the right contacts to develop business potential.

"Our partnership with On Show Solutions has been a truly successful venture for the last six years opening channels for travel from the U.S. to Africa," says Todd Neuman, Vice President of Commercial for South African Airways in North America. "SAA offers the most service from South Africa to the U.S. and the new North America Showcase enables us to further develop both leisure and business traffic that is traveling to the U.S. and Canada."

Buyer selections and invitations will be a multi-pronged approach to ensure participants meet with the caliber of travel agents and tour operators that are suited to the North American market. On Show Solutions has managed trade roadshows in South Africa for the past seven years having built up a substantial following. They have also partnered with the primary tour operators who sell North America to the South African travel trade namely Thompsons Holidays, Travel Vision and Holiday Tours who will invite their extensive client databases.

"Thompsons Holidays sends thousands of South African travelers to the U.S. and Canada each year to see natural wonders, cities and historic landmarks, and to visit entertainment and theme park venues. We pride ourselves on offering the South African consumer a wide variety of travel options into North America," says Kay Ellison from Thompsons Holidays in South Africa.

The dates and venues for the 2015 North America Showcase in South Africa are:

March 23, 2015: Cape Town

March 24, 2015: Durban

March 25, 2015: Johannesburg

March 26, 2015: Pretoria

March 27, 2015: Johannesburg (exclusive event)

The participation package includes speaker presentation sessions, exhibitor table and branding at all four trade events, and maximum networking time. Group coordination will be arranged as well as pre and post show tours if required.

Please direct all expressions of interest to Ronnie Harris from the organizing team: [email protected] | +1 414 3062539 | +1 414 2416373.

About SAA

South African Airways (SAA), Africa's most awarded airline, operates to 42 destinations worldwide, including daily nonstop flights from New York, and daily direct flights from Washington, DC (via Dakar) to Johannesburg. In its domestic market SAA has an extensive schedule operating 660 flights in total per week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, from its Johannesburg hub, as well as code-shared flights between Lanseria – Cape Town and Durban. SAA offers more frequencies than any other airline in South Africa. Regionally, SAA offers 26 destinations across the African continent including Abidjan, Accra, Blantyre, Brazzaville, Cotonou, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Douala, Entebbe, Harare, Kinshasa, Lagos, Libreville, Lilongwe, Livingstone, Luanda, Lusaka, Maputo, Mauritius, Nairobi, Ndola, Pointe Noire, Victoria Falls and Windhoek. SAA's international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 11 direct routes and code shares, with daily flights from Johannesburg to London (Heathrow), Frankfurt, Munich, Mumbai, Perth, Hong Kong, Beijing, New York, Washington, Sao Paulo and. SAA has codes share agreements with 27 other airlines across the markets it serves, including partnerships with United, US Airways, Air Canada and JetBlue in North America, which offer convenient connections from more than 30 cities to SAA's flights. SAA's core business is the provision of passenger airline and cargo transport services together with related services, which are provided through SAA and its four wholly owned subsidiaries: SAA Technical; Mango its low cost carrier; Air Chefs, the catering entity of SAA and South African Travel Centre (SATC). SAA is a Star Alliance member which offers more than 21,900 daily flights to 1,328 airports in 195 countries. SAA is the winner of the 'Best Airline in Africa' Award in the regional category for eleven consecutive years. Mango and SAA hold the number one and number two successive spots as South Africa's most on-time airlines. For more information, call 1-800-722-9675, or visit www.flysaa.com.

About On Show Solutions

The Africa Showcase is organized by On Show Solutions, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. On Solutions – a dynamic exhibition and events team with a personalized approach and clear vision for global marketing - hosts exhibition and product seminar platforms in key markets throughout the world in its quest to promote tourism to and from Africa. For further information, email [email protected] or visit www.onshowsolutions.co.za.

Contact:	Todd Neuman South African Airways; Tel: +1 954-769-5111
	[email protected]

	Jacqui Reynolds, On Show Solutions, Tel: +27 11 431 4126
	[email protected]