This article has been supplied and will be available for a limited time only on this website. For years, success in tourism development was measured by a single visible milestone: getting emerging businesses onto the floor of an international trade show. Put entrepreneurs in front of international buyers, the thinking went, and commercial success would follow. Too often, it didn't.
Rob Hetem remembers the moment he understood why. At a trade show in 2006, he watched representatives of a tourism business sitting inside their exhibition stand, eating lunch, while international buyers streamed past. "No one had explained how a trade show works," recalls Hetem, who has spent more than two decades working in tourism development and transformation. "No one had shown them how to price for intermediaries, how to approach buyers or what buyers look for when assessing risk."
When exhibitors went home without contracts, the usual conclusion was that the businesses weren't ready for international markets. Hetem saw it differently. The businesses hadn't failed. The model had put them in the room without equipping them to compete once they got there.
Those early lessons shaped a different approach. SATSA CEO David Frost, COO Hannelie du Toit and Rob Hetem brought their combined development, industry and sales experience together to build a model that prepares businesses properly before pushing them towards market access.
