Meetings & Conference

Meetings Africa – it really is a wrap!
With Meetings Africa 2007 recently concluded in Johannesburg, South Africa, could not avoid summarising some of the most important the elements of the South African business scene with some interesting facts and hopefully some useful info from the Mole…………!

South Africa is actually a pretty big place, with business and leisure visitors therefore having a huge range of business, touring and accommodation options from which to choose, many typically going for Cape Town and a ‘Big 5’ Safari, and maybe one or two other activities or tours before returning home.

Similarly, visitors to Australia may elect to visit Sydney, perhaps have a day trip or two around the city, then shoot up to Uluru and across to Cairns to see the Barrier Reef. 

The reality is that locals in both South Africa and Australia may well shake their heads at such whistle-stop tours, but the major factors behind such itineraries are usually limited time availability and the fear of never visiting again!

It is a pretty good bet that many visitors to South Africa miss out on the unique and exotic African experiences that are spread out between the nine provinces, which together cover over 1.2m square kilometres of countryside, yes I said 1.2m kilometres of countryside.

So the first point to understand is that if you are like the Mole, who craves exploring every nook and cranny, then to “see South Africa” will mean multiple trips rather than a ‘Once in a Mole-time tour’!   Hence a trip to South Africa is seen in the context of visiting a particular region, with later trips focusing on different regions until you can finally give yourself the T-Shirt!

Secondly, from personal experience, there has always been a distinct difference between ‘urban and rural’ in every country I’ve ever visited and without slandering urbanites everywhere, rural and/or smaller communities typically tended to exhibit more friendliness and hospitality, than their city-slicker counterparts………….!

With the above two points in mind, the Business Tourism sector is seen by many in South Africa as the key to unlocking travel and tourism throughout South Africa, big time, with approximately 35% of delegates to an international conference returning to the destination as leisure tourists within 5 years of the conference.  Word of Mouth (from conference delegates) also contributes to building leisure tourism, and the South African government is very aware of this fact.

It is great to see that Business Tourism strategies have been adopted by each province, and though not each of these provinces may (as yet!) have an equivalent to the Melbourne or Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureaux, business tourism opportunities abound for meetings and conference organisers worldwide.

Each provincial capital has a group somewhere in the government hierarchy whose sole mission is to increase business tourism, so finding these people and saying something like “We are considering somewhere in KwaZulu-Natal for our next conference….” will cause immediate excitement and open up a network of willing individuals and hopefully attractive deals.

However, they also face competition from the established players in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban – strangely, Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, is the provincial capital of the smallest province – Gauteng and it is not the national capital and  Durban, the third largest city in South Africa is neither a provincial or national capital.

Cape Town Routes Unlimited is the official tourism destination marketing organisation for Cape Town and the Western Cape and they recently completed an incentive tourism survey that detailed the most important factors in the corporate decision-making process:

** Value for money

** Service Excellence

** Quality, variety and flexibility of incentive programme

The international incentive sector is an important growth market for the Western Cape, and an essential part of its business events sector.  Europe & The Americas are their core markets, with business predominantly coming from the pharmaceutical, banking, finance and telecommunications industries, with the survey revealing that NO incentive business was recorded from Asia and Oceania!!

Amazing when you find out that one out of ten of the 1.6m international tourists a year to  to the Western Cape is a business tourist, and that according to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Cape Town is ranked as the number one convention destination in Africa.

However, this may now start to change, with Cape Town Routes Unlimited sending a team to AIME earlier this year to showcase Cape Town and the Western Cape, with considerable interest shown by a number of corporate companies, notwithstanding the nearly 30 pre-booked appointments!

Durban is no stranger to hosting large international events either, recently hosting the A1 Grand Prix and the city has the reputation of being the sporting and leisure capital of South Africa.  Durban is also South Africa’s major port city and the economic hub of KwaZulu-Natal, with Durban promoting itself as having Africa’s leading convention centre, the International Convention Centre (ICC) – and it has awards to prove it, also being able to handle 15,000 delegates at a time and is very technologically driven.

The ICC annually hosts the leisure tourism equivalent to Meetings Africa, the Indaba Travel Trade Show which focuses on South Africa’s tourism destinations and add to this, pristine coast, exceptional golfing and majestic landscapes in striking distance of Durban and hosting a business event here is also more than just tempting!

Whilst Cape Town seeks to consolidate its position in both leisure and business tourism, and Durban is ensuring it retains its reputation as a premier business tourism destination, they both now have a serious competitor – Johannesburg, with Johannesburg leveraging its position as the economic and commercial capital of South Africa, changing its image from a dour and drab mining town to a cosmopolitan (and safe!), cultural and hip destination………in today’s TV parlance, a complete makeover! 

Even the mining dumps around the city should be mostly gone in the next few years with Johannesburg the symbol of the changing identity of South Africa.  Sure, there are still issues – unemployment, crime, the townships, but these are all slowly being addressed and how successful the resolutions will be, only time will tell, however you can sense a collective will to make things better so this is a very good sign!

Johannesburg is the only major city in the world that was not founded on either a coast or a river, and it is only 118 years old – just under half the age of Sydney, with the city has a couple of nicknames, “Joburg” and “Egoli” (which means City of Gold) ……….40% of the world’s gold has been mined here and Johannesburg has grown from a tented settlement focused totally on mining to one of the most visited destinations in Africa. 

Johannesburg also lays claim to being the ‘largest urban forest in the world’ as there are six million trees across the city and it certainly true that from many viewpoints over the city, all you can see is green everywhere.  There must be water somewhere…!

Traditionally, people have passed through Johannesburg on their way somewhere else, e.g. to Kruger National Park, or Cape Town, but the focus is now on tempting international visitors to change their perception of Johannesburg as a brief stop-over and to get out and see the city and experience Gauteng Province.

Business Tourism is vital to Johannesburg’s new identity, and though many pre and post show tours will continue to attract people to places outside of Johannesburg and Gauteng Province, it is hoped that an increasing number of delegates will spend more time in and around the province visiting places such as The Cradle of Humankind [Pictured], Constitution Hill, Soweto, The Apartheid Museum, The Tswaing Meteorite Impact Crater, Pretoria & Freedom Park [Pictured below], The Magaliesberg Mountains [Pictured below] & Sun City.

Johannesburg is also home to over 75% of corporate headquarters, so it comes as no surprise that Meetings Africa (and the Business Tourism Conference) is held in the city.  It is also FIFA’s base for the 2010 World Cup also hosting the opening and final matches of the tournament, with a number of business events taking place around the World Cup, with Johannesburg itself offering over 130 venues.

Meetings Africa is a public/private partnership between South African Tourism and Thebe Exhibitions & Events. The Gauteng Tourism Authority and The Johannesburg Tourism Company (through its Convention Bureau) were two key sponsors of Meetings Africa 2007, which was also supported by the South African Meetings Industry Federation.

Meetings Africa is the only exhibition on the African continent that offers solutions to the MICE market, and it is now established as the continent’s premier business tourism event.  Meetings Africa brings international buyers to meet with exhibitors, and visitors can find that perfect venue and tour, or the best and latest ideas in African incentive travel.

There is increasing interest in South Africa as a business meeting destination, and the sheer number of ‘BusinessUnusual’ experiences on offer, along with the keenness of local authorities to grow business tourism all ads up to a new dimension of offerings for event, meeting and conference organisers worldwide.

Meetings Africa is the perfect vehicle to find out what you can offer potential customers, from a unique African bush setting to work out that new strategy, book ended with both exotic and unusual travel experiences, to playing a stunning golf course, exploring historic Zulu battlefields or simply enjoying watching the wildlife watch you.

Want to or know more about Meetings Africa of Business Tourism in South Africa?

Then all you have to do is contact Eric Baravilala, the Australian Business Tourism Manager for South African Tourism and he will be happy to show you how your customers’ business and incentive trips will become voyages of discovery and personal transformations, and welcome you to ‘BUSINESSUNUSUAL’ in South Africa.

Report by The Mole in South Africa