Its all over – for now!

Meetings Africa is now over for another year and all the pre & post show tours are completed, so all that needs to be done is to share some of the Mole’s observations from being part of the show and speaking with many South Africans from guides, exhibitors, tour operators, venues, in hospitality and in the workforce.

As this is The Mole’s first up close & personal, in only one area of the country feel free to disagree and send in your point of view!

Firstly, The meeting planner or organiser in Australia and New Zealand is faced with a plethora of options when deciding on who should get their next gig!  Four issues are typically on their minds when considering an international location for their next event, exhibition, meeting or incentive trip:

** Destination;

** Infrastructure;

** Cost; and

** Security and safety

As a MICE destination, South Africa scores fabulously well for the first three of these and the challenge is one of changing international perceptions about infrastructure and cost in particular, and highlighting the wow factors for travelling to South Africa.

In an increasingly competitive MICE market, commercial planners and organisers are looking for something just that little bit different to attract new business and increase repeat business.  The destination, plus Pre and Post conference tours, can be major points of differentiation, and give them a real competitive advantage.

This is where South Africa rocks!  It is a unique and exotic destination that offers a real, possibly even life-changing travel experience as part of a pre or post event/conference tour (not a tick a tourism item off a list tour!).  It has an infrastructure second-to-none and the cost is relatively low. Why wouldn’t you consider it? (In fact The Mole is tempted to say something like “So, where the Big 5 are you?!”)

This is indeed core to the ‘Businessunusual’ approach employed by South African Tourism in their quest to educate the world about the new South Africa, and promote the compelling case for business tourism – “where expectations meet the unexpected”. 

However, there is one remaining hurdle that also has to be overcome, and that is the perception of security and safety.  When leaving Oz, the number of people who said “Be Safe”, “Be Careful” and similar was astounding!

Now The Mole has been to some dodgy places in his snuffling, however, basic common-sense should nine times out of ten ensure a return flight – don’t be a walking jewellery store, don’t go to a deserted area at night and keep technology to a minimum.  Quoting from a South African Tourism booklet, “Most parts of the country can be safely visited by tourists provided they take basic common-sense precautions” (as above).

Ultimately its all about risk, actual or perceived.  Oh! Oh! The Mole is standing on his soap-box!!  Virtually everything you do in life has associated risk. We evaluate the risk and decide a course of action.  This can be anything from crossing the road in front of an oncoming bus, surfing, and jumping out of a plane, to deciding a major career change, or even walking through a park late at night.

Trouble is, everyone assesses risk differently!  What one person sees as risky another sees as OK.  Travel involves risk, but the personal pay-offs can be huge – its part of why we do it.  We mitigate risk to a level where it is personally comfortable when we travel by acting a certain way, avoiding known tricky areas etc.  The same can easily be applied to visiting South Africa.

It was reported on a news channel recently that across South Africa, there are on average 30 murders per day, and there are two points of view on how to deal with crime. One is to increase police numbers, the other is to focus on crime prevention – by tackling unemployment, poverty and issues caused by urbanisation.  Whatever the approach, its still all about mitigating risk through various actions.

Most people understand that the South African nation is actively seeking ways to reduce risk of crime and perhaps one of the results of these efforts is the fact that South Africa is now one of the world’s fastest-growing tourism destinations.

Personal feeling is that I am in a relatively safe environment in Johannesburg, everyone appears friendly – and I made sure that I avoided any dodgy parts of the city (which everyone, black or white, make sure I was made aware of)  whilst still trying to take as much in as possible. 

Some facts and opinions given to the Mole, and some observations as follows:

** Yes, security walls with barb wire and electric wires atop do abound, however, the demarcation is not white and black, there are mixed communities behind these.  You begin to wonder if the old symbolism is transforming into simply ‘security’ with no other connotations (except for rich and poor), mainly because they have been part of the landscape for so long, and crime is relatively high.  Some Sydney homes you see have similar security measures employed – high walls, wire etc, just not in the same quantity!!

** Because everyone has a security wall of some sort, if you built a house without one, you would stick out like the proverbials, so there is one very happy and thriving fencing & security industry in Johannesburg.

** The ‘Townships’, ie squatter camps develop from an informal settlement around a watercourse (ie on the city fringes) that then grow to a point where the water can’t support the settlement.  The govt. then begins trucking water in, then moves on to building basic infrastructure. Finally, govt houses are built on small lots so you end up with something that would be termed in Australia as a ‘relocatable home lifestyle park’.  All neatly painted rows of housing. Then the shanties are bulldozed.  New shanty towns are developing with illegal immigrants coming over the border, particularly from Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

** Building new houses sounds good in theory, and there is still a long way to go, but as ever, human nature prevails.  As soon as someone is given their new house, they bring over the family and….. build a shanty adjoining the new house!! It’s a real problem and apparently Capetown have seen whats happened around Johannesburg and are seeking a solution while some of the new houses have remained vacant for over a year!

** Employment is a big problem – there are numerous street vendors risking life and limb walking through heavy traffic.

** Sandton is in effect the new city centre of Johannesburg, it is basically a secure CBD – which the old CBD wasn’t (and where you no doubt heard all those horror stories about Johannesburg).  In Sandton, the residential security walls have been softened by making them a little more ornate and planting greenery.  In other parts of the city, some very ugly walls exist and new housing estates outside of town (a la Campbelltown type developments) are chock full of townhouses giving the impression of ye olde mediaeval walled town!

** Property prices are high and the trend is to move away from isolated houses as they are so expensive to maintain, and move to flats and townhouses

** Unfortunately, you do need to be careful walking at night in the city, even though daytime you are OK.  There are plenty of entertainment and eatery areas, but best bet is a cab between them after dark.  Just a fact of life here.

** Eucalyptus trees were imported for mining use as they grew tall and fast. Now both black wattle and eucalyptus trees are all over the high veldt and not everyone is amused!  There is a national programme to remove foreign vegetation such as the Pompom weed (see earlier article), so no doubt one day the focus will move up to the veldt. If the koalas made a run for it from Pretoria zoo and found the gum trees….

** With the grassland and gums, there have been a number of Aussie scenes presented in the veldt – very unexpected.  In one place, there were a few shanties under the gums and it must have been pretty close to how some places must have looked in the Depression in 30’s Oz.

** Summer (ie now!) should be producing lots of rain – and it ain’t.  The land is brown and dry and there are some very worried people. Days have been sunny and around 30 the whole time the Mole has been visiting.  It simply doesn’t rain in winter due to the elevation. Moisture drops out before it reaches up the escarpment to Johannesburg and surrounds. So could be big trouble ahead…

** Hardly any noticeable obesity in the population.

** AIDS is a huge problem which the govt. is pretending isn’t a problem, but this will work against business tourism in the long run if they do not address it properly.

** Also of concern to tour operators such as Africa Tours is the travel time to South Africa for business tourism.  Michelle Caskie and Sonja Dickson [Pictured] both firmly believe that a minimum of one week should be allowed for long-haul travellers attending meetings and conferences in South Africa.

They feel that agents appear also to push the budget traveller towards Africa, rather than the business tourist, whereas they, like many others, are keen to develop the MICE market in South Africa.

The reality is also that events are part of the South African lifestyle, and they just love ‘em, big or small.  This surely must translate into the business tourism arena.

Business Tourism companies and organisations are using the learnings from the nation-building process, unique cultural management concepts and past experience from hosting world events to catch up to their fast growing leisure tourism counterparts.  Both sectors firmly believe that South Africa is as safe as any other destination in the world and that any risks are more than manageable.

So the challenge for South African Tourism is to communicate that belief to the world – that the perceived personal risks of visiting South Africa have in fact been reduced to a level that most tourists would be happy with. The choice is yours, but don’t wait too long to experience the mystery and beauty of South Africa, whether it is business or pleasure.

I’ll leave the final word to Mati Nyazema, Executive Director of the Sandton Convention Centre:

“Johannesburg, recognised as the commercial heart of Africa, provides the pulsing business hub for South Africa.  It’s the ‘talking and thinking city’ where people converge and make decisions and Sandton Convention Centre provides the catalyst, bringing people and opportunities together. Therefore take a bold step, come and try South Africa, for a business-unusual conference experience”.

The Mole will certainly be back, now lets see, what should I do next time? Perhaps the battlefield route, certainly Cape Town, definitely a Big 5 Safari!

Hope you have enjoyed the Mole’s commentary and stories from Meetings Africa. Shortly it will be back to Oz!  Something of a personal highlight in the last two ‘days off’ before departure, was visiting the Wanderers Cricket Ground to see where two great cricketing moments took place, the Aussies winning the 2003 World Cup and later losing after South Africa chased down 438 runs in a one-dayer.  Perhaps I can make it to Ellis Park before I leave….

A Meetings Africa Report by The Mole