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Pretoria - The first thing South Africa's planned National Convention Bureau needs is for some brutally honest reflection on the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
These were the words of Brett Dungan, CEO of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa).
On Tuesday, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced in his budget address that the bureau would be established under the banner of SA Tourism.
The aim is to market South Africa as a destination for business tourism and opportunities, to develop or support tenders for such opportunities andto generate strategies for business tourism and major events.
Van Schalkwyk said that South Africa had already won the right to present 95 events and conferences between 2010 and 2016, and had submitted tenders for a further 45 between 2011 and 2020.
Sporting events and mega-opportunities inspire everyone in the country, and sports tourism contributes R6bn a year to the tourism industry, Van Schalkwyk explained. More than a tenth of South Africa’s overseas visitors come for sports events, and six to eight out of every 10 of these are spectators.
The Confederations Cup tournament and the tour by the British and Irish Lions brought 52 000 visitors to the country in 2009, who spent R669m in South Africa.
More than 90% of them indicated that they would like to visit South Africa again and would recommend it as a destination to others, said Van Schalkwyk.
Dungan welcomed the establishment of the Convention Bureau to attract more such functions to South Africa. He had previously expressed his disappointment with the 1.3 million bed nights that Match, Fifa’s accommodation agent, had released to the market.
The bureau should first of all thoroughly investigate what had gone smoothly and what had gone wrong with preparations for the soccer spectacle, said Dungan.
Only a brutally honest report would enable the country to learn and build on the experience, Dungan said.
He also expressed concern about the marketing duplication by some provincial tourism authorities, and reckoned the envisaged bureau could work more efficiently and cost effectively.
Bidding for a major function, he said, was often a process that could take up to three years. He had great confidence in the ability of SA Tourism to lead an agency such as this and to manage its finances responsibly.
- Sake24.com
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