06 Jun 2019

Small World Marketing shines a ‘Spotlight on Africa’ to UK’s press

On 22nd May Small World Marketing hosted a select dinner for Africa-loving press and PRs in Chelsea. Guests included representatives from the travel, luxury/lifestyle, trade and broadsheet press. A room filled with keen travellers and Africa aficionados made for passionate and informed conversation about Africa and its place in present and future travel trends. 

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The overall theme for the evening was ‘Spotlight on Africa’ with Anita Powell, (Founder & MD), and Catherine Armstrong (PR & Marketing Manager) delving into the emerging travel trends and hot topics, many of which are being pioneered in Africa.

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Small World Marketing (SWM) focuses on East and Southern Africa with a focus on clients specialising in more unknown or remote destinations; and doing interesting work around sustainability and conservation. Thus, key themes for the evening’s discussions were ‘The Road Less Travelled’ and ‘Sustainability & Eco-Tourism’ showcasing how, many SWM clients have been active in these areas, and committed over many years.

The Road Less Travelled, focused on those properties and areas of Africa which remain relatively untouched, including Ethiopia and Southern Tanzania. Heading away from those areas swamped with tourists is high on this year’s travel trends and finding the equilibrium between promoting an untouched area to discerning tourists, while keeping it remote and exclusive, was high on the topics of conversation.

High on the agenda around the world is the topic of sustainability and, relating to the travel industry, eco-tourism. Under discussion here were those clients who demonstrate sustainability and community engagement not as an added extra but as a core business function and brand value. With conservation, sustainability and regeneration of environments being hot topics, keen discussion was plentiful on how Africa is playing a big part on the world travel stage.    

Lisa Johnston, Freelance Journalist said of the evening “It was a lovely dinner - an interesting crowd in a magical setting - and you have such wonderful clients. It was great to hear more about the impact they are having on local communities”

“It was such a wonderful evening full of passion, inspiration and a lot of love for Africa.” Grace Wright, Turquoise Holidays

Complementing the presentation on sustainability and eco- tourism was guest speaker Ben Morison, who spoke of his most recent endeavours on the Flip-Floppi project, a traditionally built dhow made entirely of plastic washed up on East- African shores. His thought-provoking speech inspired many in the room to rethink their consumer habits … SWM office has since redoubled its own efforts to go plastic-free!