South Africa Business Tourism Marketing Awards

The South African Business Tourism Industry came together this week for the inaugural awards ceremony for the “Best in Business Tourism Marketing Awards” held on 27 February 2007, as part of Meetings Africa, Africa’s leading business tourism exhibition, which focuses on the Business Tourism Industry, highlighting related products and services, and the latest ideas……….and The Mole was there!

With awards open to products, service providers and destinations that operate in the MICE market in South Africa and award categories included Best Conference, Best Special Event, Best Venue Marketing Campaign, Best New Tourism Product and of course, The Mole’s favourite………Best Business Tourism Article!

Entries submitted had to illustrate excellence and outstanding achievement with three entries short-listed as nominees in each category being judged by panels of business tourism experts focusing on five elements:

** Creativity;

** Innovation;

** Rationale (why the nominee was the best candidate);

** Impact; and

** Alignment with & understanding of business tourism.

Thank goodness there were no acceptance speeches, which meant that the actual ceremony was relatively quick – very much appreciated by all and so much better than a final of a “Cavorting with the Stars” type of TV show, which so many awards have, where it is all spun out so much you are mentally scarred or asleep for most of it………………!

One award in particular is quite interesting – Best BUSINESSUNUSUAL product or supplier, with BUSINESSUNUSUAL used to describe the new approach being employed to promote internationally the compelling case for business tourism in South Africa.

The BUSINESSUNUSUAL campaign promotes South Africa as a beautiful and fascinating destination, totally unique, where business and incentive trips take people on personal voyages of discovery and transformation, allowing them to gain completely new perspectives on doing business.

This is all done within a totally ‘First World’ infrastructure, i.e. all mod cons, including Safety Standards, Quality (ISO standards), world class facilities, accommodation, service and leisure activities are all core to the success of the campaign.

The winner of the Best BUSINESSUNUSUAL  product or supplier award was ‘Maropeng’, the visitor centre for the Cradle of Mankind, which is where the Gauteng Tourism Authority recently hosted the ‘Welcome to Gauteng’ function, for visitors to Meetings Africa and the Mole can fully understand why Maropeng took out the prize.

The Visitor Centre has an underground attraction, where you are taken back in time on a boat ride, starting with the four elements (c’mon, you know what they are, one of ‘em is water….), then progressing to the formation of earth and all its life.  There are the usual sort of audio visual displays and interpretation panels (the formation of the earth is done very well), but it is the interactive exhibits that are very clever, making some good points about human anatomy and the use of tools up to the current day.

So the judges were pretty spot-on, Maropeng [Pictured left] is a unique and fascinating destination, it has conference and other facilities (fabulous for incentive groups) and it takes people on a personal voyage of discovery.  Mind you, the boat ride could easily be turned into a mix between a ghost train ride and waterpark ride – just add scary bits to the flashing lightening and thunder as you float by!

The venue for the awards was the opposite side of the province in an area called Dinokeng, up near the very top of Gauteng.  The Zebra Country Lodge is about one and a half hours drive north east of Johannesburg, and it is part of the Legend Lodges Hotels & Resorts Group.

Having only experienced a small part of the 400ha reserve (at night!), the Mole can only provide a limited overview.  The focus of the gathering was a ‘Shebeen’, a central meeting place where traditionally people chew the cud on what has happened during the day.  Things like “Man, I’m telling you, the wildebeest was THIS big!”

The closest it can be likened to is a large barn of wood and corrugated iron, painted with bright colours and designs (sort of a traditional Aussie woolshed after a big B&S ball, but much more asymmetrical….).  An excellent wooden bar inside, plus some great African cuisine and entertainment outside ensured a very happy and jovial evening for all.

According to the literature the Mole picked up, Zebra Country Lodge is a popular conference destination with several team-building activities, and it is the perfect weekend getaway.  There are outdoor activities both onsite and nearby (including open vehicle nature drives and a number of golf courses!). From the photos, the lodge looks to be a great place to stay, with a number of chalets on offer.

Speaking with the team at Zebra, they have experienced significant growth due to the fact that it is unusual to find a lodge with such a high capacity.  Their ultimate goal is to be a ‘Big 5” game reserve in easy reach of Johannesburg.  Function space can handle up to 1500 people and Zebra makes a good 2/3 day stop as a touring base.

After the awards presentation, their was an auction for 5 prizes, with a very entertaining auctioneer, followed by a performance from the band “Freshly Ground’, acknowledged as one of the best ever exports from South Africa.  Everyone got into the groove and it is safe to say that the inaugural Business Tourism Awards were a big success.

A Meetings Africa Report by The Mole