South Africa’s business tourism sector is on a high. For the first time in the country’s history, the State President, Jacob Zuma, recognised the importance of business tourism in his state of the nation address. “We are pleased with the success of our tourism sector,” the President said, adding: “More than 7.3m tourists arrived in South Africa last year, as compared to about 6.3m in 2009. For further growth, we will strengthen existing markets while exploring the emerging economies.
“Our country continues to be a popular destination for international gatherings. We have already secured 200 meetings and conferences between 2010 and 2016. To further boost our tourism potential, we will amongst other measures, look into flexible visa requirements, improved landing slots at foreign airports as well as improved tourism infrastructure.”
The address came just weeks before the country’s annual Meetings Africa event took place at Johannesburg’s Sandton Convention Centre, organised by South African Tourism. The event is a business tourism marketing platform which aims to expose local and international buyers to the range of services and products in Southern Africa’s MICE industry. South African Tourism’s Global Manager for Business Tourism, Nomasonto Ndlovu told CMW: “The industry is hyped up following Zuma’s speech. It confirms that we are all working hard and not here to play games, and it means the work we have been doing with the Ministry to educate on business tourism, is all worthwhile.”
The eighth edition of Meetings Africa attracted 3,353 visitors, up from 2,899 in 2010, and around 200 exhibitors. There were also 123 international hosted buyers and this year’s Association Day was attended by 52 delegates.
The show, which has become much more sophisticated, introduced a number of new initiatives for 2011 including revised show days from Monday to Wednesday allowing three full days of interaction, a matchmaking programme, a corporate brunch and Meetings Africa Golf Day. It also enhanced its online diary system, which links to Outlook and introduced a more advanced array of educational seminars in line with competition. “Our main objective is growth and we want to grow to an international standard,” said Ndlovu. “By this we mean we want Meetings Africa to sit firmly in any international event organiser’s diary, much like IMEX and EIBTM. If we want to create an international standard show, we need to keep an eye on what the other shows in our sphere are doing.”
Meetings Africa finished its Johannesburg contract this year, (the show has been there for its eight-year existence) and a new three-year tender is out for the next host city. While Ndlovu remained tight lipped about any contenders, she said: “Whoever bids needs to understand how the MICE market works, I can’t wait for the decision.”
The obvious choices are Cape Town, Johannesburg or Durban, though Ndlovu said Johannesburg has a lot going for it. “Johannesburg is the unofficial gateway to Africa, where everything is happening. It houses the stock exchange, more international corporates than any other area of South Africa, it’s such a vibrant city,” she said.
South Africa’s Minister for Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk officially opened the first Meetings Africa exhibition to be held after South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
“We have always maintained that it is imperative that we leverage the success and learning of the World Cup, especially in the tourism industry in South Africa. It is clear business tourism has been bolstered by a new sense of energy and direction and I believe this will make a significant contribution to consolidating our continent’s position in the global arena and demonstrating our capabilities in terms of hosting international events,” the Minister said.
He highlighted the important and growing role that business tourism will play in helping the Government’s job creation objectives. “Tourism contributed an estimated 7.7 per cent to South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010. Business tourism will no doubt play a role in getting more visitors to South Africa. The meetings and conferences we have secured in South Africa over the next five years will bring more than 300,000 delegates to our country. The potential economic impact of these confirmed meetings and conferences is more than R1.6 bn (US$232m),” he said.
In 2009, South Africa welcomed approximately 500,000 business tourism arrivals, representing about 4.7 per cent of total arrivals figure. This equated to a total economic value of about R4bn, with business tourists spending an average of R5,300 during their stay in South Africa. The average length of stay of business tourists also increased from 4.6 nights in 2008 to 4.8 nights in 2009.
In a recent report by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), South Africa was ranked 34th globally and first in Africa for 2009 in terms of the number of meetings hosted. The report showed that in 2009 almost 8,300 meetings were held globally, of which almost 55 per cent were held in Europe. Africa hosted 3.8 per cent of the total meetings or 314 meetings. Of these, 90 were held in South Africa, followed by Egypt with 32 meetings.
Cape Town was the leading city in Africa with a total of 49 meetings held in 2009, with Johannesburg ranked fifth and Durban 10th compared to other African cities. Cape Town was ranked 35th globally in the city rankings, with Johannesburg and Durban ranked at 128 and 231 respectively in terms of number of meetings per city.
Minister van Schalkwyk said the figures showd that South Africa and its leading business tourism cities compared very well in terms of the rest of the continent. “We believe Meetings Africa will again be an important opportunity for the entire African meetings and business community to interact and explore opportunities,” he said. “In terms of our country’s global ranking, South Africa has done well in terms of maintaining its competitive position. I do, however, believe that there is still room for significant growth in terms of the number of meetings we attract, the spend per visitor and the length of stay.”
The Minister also noted that the boost South Africa would receive from becoming the fifth country in the powerful Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) partnership should be recognised. These countries account for 40 per cent of the world’s population and annual global GDP and are set to become the global growth locomotive.
“Collectively, these countries are expected to outperform major industrialised economies over the next two years,” said Minister van Schalwkyk. “South Africa stands to gain tremendously from our inclusion into the BRIC partnership. Amongst others, we expect that increased levels of trade and investment activity between South Africa and the other partner countries will also lead to increased business travel and business meetings. In addition, South Africa will be able to share and learn from these countries in terms of business tourism success stories and identify opportunities for stronger collaboration in bidding for and staging major business events,” he added.
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