Kusa Connect

Kusa Connect is a UK-based luxury travel sales representation business founded by Graeme Watson — the host of The Annual Africa Tourism Evening. The company exists to do one thing well: put selected African luxury travel properties and DMCs in front of the UK travel trade with the kind of personal, founder-led attention that bigger reps cannot match.

Graeme has fifteen-plus years of African luxury travel sales experience, including senior roles at Thompsons Africa, Cox & Kings and SITA, and is a former SATSA Board Director and KZN Chapter Chair. He has spent most of his career on the supplier side of the relationship — which means he understands the day-to-day operational realities of the African properties he represents, not just the UK market they're trying to enter. That dual perspective is the core of how Kusa Connect operates.

The Kusa Connect portfolio focuses on properties where there is a genuine fit between the offering and what the UK market actually buys — and where the property owner is willing to commit to a long-term partnership rather than a transactional rep relationship. For UK buyers, working with Kusa Connect means dealing directly with the founder, getting straight answers about availability and rates, and having a UK contact who will personally attend a FAM trip rather than delegating it.

The company also organises and hosts The Annual Africa Tourism Evening — the room itself. AATE 2026 takes place at The Annexe at The Champagne Bar, Pall Mall, on 19 June, and is the most direct way to meet Graeme, see the Kusa Connect portfolio in person, and understand how the company works.