FLIGHT Centre Travel Group
has restrategised the format
of its annual Travel Expo,
which has been held at
Johannesburg’s Ticketpro
Dome every February for the
past nine years.
This year the expo will be
held in its stores – the group
will direct customers to its
110 retail outlets around the
country to take advantage of
exclusive expo specials over
the weekend February 28 to
March 1.
“Instead of trying to channel
20 000 to 25 000 people
through the door of the Dome
we want to make better use of
the R35 million that we spend
on national retail rental each
year,” says FCTG md Middle
East and Africa, Andrew Stark.
“We will now be bringing the
expo to every community in
every province in South Africa.
Due to the increased scale,
our targets have increased
exponentially.”
Andrew says in previous
years customers queued
to book with around 120
consultants at the Dome over
the course of the weekend.
“Now, clients have the
opportunity to book with 400
consultants located around the
country, transacting through
their preferred medium of
telephonic, email or in-store
communication,” he says.
“We are still aiming to offer
customers around 500 deals,
which are exclusive to the
Flight Centre group. These
will all be hosted virtually on
the FCTG website, generating
good traffic and exposure for
suppliers for the event.”
Suppliers will no longer have
to outlay funds for expo stands
but can instead reinvest these
marketing funds in other ways,
says Andrew.
“We asked ourselves how
we could maximise the
long-term sustainability of
the expo investment and
are already engaging with
suppliers and asking them to
upskill and train not just 120
expo consultants but 400
consultants around the country
ahead of the expo.”
