Hosted Buyers Welcomed to Gauteng Experience

With the first official event taking place today for the Meetings Africa programme, at the Indaba Hotel and Conference Centre, Carol Weaving, the Managing Director of Thebe Exhibitions and Events Group gave the opening address to the assembled International Hosted Buyers, welcoming everyone to South Africa and introducing South Africa as a destination where planners, organisers and buyers could break new ground in business tourism.

Weaving highlighted that South Africa was now ranked number two in the world for eco-tourism, and then a DVD was shown to the audience (with an introduction from Nelson Mandela) that detailed why South Africa is the ultimate destination for business tourism.

One interesting image was of an executive in a mobile phone while an elephant passed by behind him, it made the mole pause for thought – In Australia, perhaps we could have Skippy shooting past a telecommunications rep trying to find a signal in rural Australia as part of an election campaign?!

A provincial educational then followed, with representatives from some of the nine provinces in South Africa each giving a short presentation, profiling their destination. All had a different approach.

Northern Cape Province (with its capital, Kimberley), known for its diamonds, described itself as one of the ultimate road trips, as it is a desert destination, the largest of all the provinces, and offers long uncrowded roads past magnificent scenery.  It is a “rural, real and nature based” province with no crowds, no mobile reception in a number of areas, and several game parks for touring. The Business Tourism theme was literally ‘Isolate your next meeting or incentive at one of our great venues for a really unique event – and throw in a great road trip’ !

Limpopo offered itself as a viable substitute for stressful destinations, with a focus on its national parks, eco-tourism and elephants. Ideal for holding business meetings and events in a relaxing environment, with plenty of safari options.

Durban, the provincial capital of Kwazulu Natal laid claim to being South Africa’s event capital, citing a number of recent world events. It is popular as a film location and has the country’s oldest game reserve (saving the white rhino).  Durban has the largest Indian culture outside of India, as well as all the goodies associated with the Zulu culture. There are even famous battlefields to visit. The Mole loves the idea of seeing the Duzi Marathon, just to hear someone say “Geeze Mate, that one was a doozie!!”

Gauteng is the other end of the spectrum.  Though it is the smallest of the nine provinces, locals refer to Johannesburg, the provincial capital, as the Manhattan of the High Veld – the province that never sleeps! Here is the highest concentration of conferencing and meeting venues in South Africa, here is where you will find the sophisticated crowds, a “multi-cultural pot of people”, and here is where Homo Sapiens (ie every person on the planet) originated – in an area called the Cradle of Mankind. When they say “Welcome Home” to you in Gauteng, they really mean it!

Concluding the event, Angeline Lue, the General Manager of Business Tourism South Africa returned to the theme of breaking new ground by organising your next meeting or event in South Africa, focusing on the diversity on offer in South Africa and on the undiscovered experiences that await people in South Africa.

Packaging a ‘South African business tourism experience’ will be the key to ongoing success, a fact that is being borne out by one of South Africa’s fastest growing markets –  Associations.

The Gauteng Experience involved a half day cultural and heritage experience and we all headed off to a fabulous place called the Plumari Game Lodge in the north-west of Gauteng.  It is located close to the neighbouring North West Province, half way to Sun City, one and a half hours drive from Johannesburg.

The area has much to offer on all fronts and in order to arrive at Plumari, visitors will most likely pass through the World Heritage Area known as the Cradle of Mankind, where we all ultimately came from.

Again, it would be easy to write pages on this place and some was covered yesterday in TravelMole, but to cut to the chase, the hosted buyer group were taken to Maropeng and so can you by going to www.maropeng.co.za.

Cawe Mahlati, CEO of the Gauteng Tourism Authority, pictured, welcomed everyone and underlined what had been said earlier in the day about Gauteng as a destination in South Africa. Her address was followed by a catwalk fashion parade, African style! It was all done to music, with a virtuoso performance by the artist who sang as he moved up and down the catwalk, while the models strutted their stuff.

Described as a fusion of ancient woman with the high art of fashion, it was a knock-out performance, with everyone getting into the spirit, clapping with abandon at the end of it all.  Fashion has never been a strong point for the mole, but the visual impact of some of the outfits was amazing.

All the molettes were oohing and ahhing all over the place, particularly Michelle Caskie and Sonja Dickson from Africa Tour (who specialise in personalised tours, safaris and incentives).  They explained to the mole all about pansulas, beadwork and African fashion, and soft African towels.

Yes! Apparently African towels are known for their softness but I’ll have to verify their story – after all, some refreshments had been consumed along the way….  Mind you, Eric Baravilala (the Business Tourism Manager for Oz) agreed, so I suspect its not just a ‘High Veldt’ story!

The point was well made about Gauteng being the sophisticated end of the market and this was re-enforced when someone enquired what the words ‘Waya Waya’ meant (displayed under the Gauteng logo) it came as no surprise:  24/7 !

Meetings Africa Report by The Mole