Spotlight Travel Expo marked its 26th edition in 2026 as a key business-to-business platform connecting Africa’s travel trade with airlines, hotels, destinations, tour operators, and destination management companies.
Nairobi Event Draws Over 350 Travel Professionals and 50 Exhibitors
The 2026 Nairobi edition took place from September 1 to September 3, bringing together more than 350 travel agents, suppliers, and other tourism industry professionals alongside over 50 exhibiting companies for product showcases, scheduled meetings, networking sessions, and prize draws over a two-day program.
Regional Participation and Structured B2B Meetings
Members of the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) traveled from across the country, including the Coast region, Kisumu, and Eldoret, to attend the Nairobi event. Travel agents
engaged in tightly scheduled B2B appointments enabling efficient interactions with suppliers that would otherwise require multiple sales calls, international trade fairs, or overseas trips.
Business Events Scale and Economic Impact
Globally, business events attracted an estimated 1.65 billion participants in 2025, generating US$1.3 trillion in direct spending and contributing US$3.1 trillion in business sales and US$1.8 trillion to global GDP, according to data from the Events Industry Council and Oxford Economics. Across Africa, the business-events market involves 80.6 million attendees with US$23.4 billion in direct spending, supporting roughly 328,000 direct jobs.
Kenya’s Role in Africa’s Business Events Sector
Kenya hosted 21 international association meetings in 2023, ranking third in Africa. Nairobi has gained
recognition as one of the continent’s established business-events destinations, building on this position with trade exhibitions like Spotlight that complement larger conferences by facilitating direct buyer-seller interactions.
Spotlight’s Growth and Pan-African Trade Facilitation
Spotlight Travel Expo has delivered over 150 editions in more than 15 African cities over 26 years. The expo emphasizes commercial transactions through curated meetings to create partnerships and contracts within the travel sector. Founder Derek Houston of Houston Travel Marketing Services has led the platform throughout its history, aiming to promote Pan-African travel and stronger trade connections across the continent.
Expansion Into Mombasa in November 2026
Following the Nairobi event, Spotlight Travel Expo will hold its first edition
in Mombasa on November 26, 2026. This expansion brings the trade-show format to Kenya’s Coast region, providing a new marketplace for regional travel professionals and further supporting Kenya’s growing travel industry.
