Connect Southern Africa is a joint trade show from Africa’s Eden and SATSA. It brings the product of nine countries – the eight Africa’s Eden countries and South Africa – together with global buyers for three days of pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings in Johannesburg.
The show exists because that is how the region is actually sold. Very few long-haul itineraries stop at one border: buyers package South Africa with Victoria Falls, the Okavango, the Namib, Lake Malawi or the Zambezi, and until now they have had to work two separate shows to build them. Connect puts both memberships in the same room, so a buyer can contract a multi-country programme across three days instead of across two trips.
The scale is deliberate. This is a curated group of buyers and exhibitors, not a hall of thousands – a full diary of short, focused meetings, with the evenings given over to the conversations that turn an appointment into a contract.
| Show | Where and when | Exhibitors |
|---|---|---|
|
Africa Edition |
Maun, February 2027 |
Africa’s Eden members only |
|
Global Edition |
Windhoek, November 2027 |
Africa’s Eden members only |
|
Connect Southern Africa |
Johannesburg, 20-23 July 2027 |
Africa’s Eden and SATSA members |
| Show | Where and when | Buyers |
|---|---|---|
|
Africa Edition |
Maun, February 2027 |
Buyers from companies domiciled anywhere in Africa |
|
Global Edition |
Windhoek, November 2027 |
Buyers from companies domiciled anywhere in Africa |
|
Connect Southern Africa |
Johannesburg, 20-23 July 2027 |
Buyers from companies domiciled outside Africa |
If you sell South Africa and the Africa's Eden region together, Connect is the show where both sit in one room.
The diary is the show: 36 pre-scheduled meetings across two full meeting days, 18 a day. Each meeting runs 15 minutes with a five-minute changeover, in three two-hour blocks a day. Buyers and exhibitors are matched ahead of the show, so every appointment is with someone who has a reason to meet you.
Two tea breaks and lunch sit inside each meeting day, in the same room as the tables. They are part of the programme, not a pause from it – most of the follow-up conversations start there.
Three evening functions across the three days: an opening event on arrival, a Johannesburg dine-around on the second night, and a closing event on the third. The dine-around takes delegates out into the city in small groups, which is where the room stops being a room full of strangers.
Short-format fam tours run before and after the show, across Africa’s Eden and SATSA member countries. Each is four nights, covers two product destinations, takes one or two agents, and starts and finishes in Johannesburg, so it clips straight onto the show without a separate set of flights.
Itineraries are published in advance and agents choose from them. There are no custom-built requests and no approval cycle: if a fam is listed as available, selecting it confirms it.
18 pre-scheduled meetings, morning and afternoon. Two tea breaks and lunch. Evening dine-around.
Venue: To be confirmed, Johannesburg
Exhibiting at Connect Southern Africa is open to product suppliers and DMCs that actively sell Southern Africa and are fully paid-up members of SATSA, Africa’s Eden, or both.
Early-bird exhibitor registration closes 1 February 2027.
Membership links
Become a member of AE
Become a member of SATSA
Registration is open to buyers from companies domiciled outside Africa. Places are limited and applications are reviewed.
