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St Lucia - Events and business tourism are pivotal drivers of the continued success of the SA tourism sector, according to Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom.
He spoke at the congress of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (Saaci) on Monday.
"Tourism is one of the sectors in the SA economy that could make a very significant contribution towards addressing many of the challenges identified in the National Development Plan (NDP)," said Hanekom.
"SAACI has clearly demonstrated that collective effort is the way to go, and is much more effective in shaping the future of this industry than individual players in the value chain can ever hope to be."
He pointed out that SA's tourism industry contributed 9.5% of South Africa’s gross domestic product in 2013, translating into more than 1.4 million jobs.
"Given that one of our single biggest challenges is to reduce the number of jobless people in our country, this makes the sector massively important to the economy," said Hanekom.
"It is well known that business travel exceeds global averages for tourism spending. It represent a segment of higher end spenders, and, together with the meetings industry, contributes greatly to breaking seasonality patterns."
Added to this, it provides positive publicity to the country as well as a high level of return visits.
Therefore, the SA government remains fully supportive of the business events industry and recognises the impact that it continues to have on the economy.
"In fact we have every reason to be thrilled about the impact of business events on attracting foreign direct spend and investment, creating jobs and positively shaping perceptions about our destination around the world," said Hanekom.
"South Africa as a business events destination is fast becoming a serious contender globally. We gained three places in the global ranking of the International Congress and Convention Associations (ICCA) from 37th place in 2012 to 34th in 2013. All indications are that we are poised to continue to gain it this ranking."
Durban and Cape Town are ranked amongst the Top 100 cities in the world for conventions and SA is the number one convention destination in Africa and the Middle East.
"The 118 ICCA ranked meetings that we hosted last year brought over 94 000 association professionals to SA and contributed an estimated R1.2bn to the country’s economy," said Hanekom.
"If we add to this the further 200 000 business event delegates visiting our shores, this sub-sector contributed some R6bn to our economy last year."
For example, the meeting of the Global Consumer Goods Forum to be held in June 2016 will bring 800 to 1 000 CEOs and senior managers from over 400 retailers, manufacturers with combined sales worth some EUR €2.5trn (about R35.45trn) per year.
The immediate estimated economic impact of R11.2m will include some 4 000 room nights spread over four conference days, and that excludes the spending by those delegates that decide to stay longer, visit other parts of the country, or to return with their families in a year or two.
"And this is not even to speak of the potential business and investment in our country that a conference of this kind could bring," said Hanekom.
"Our assertions must be backed up by real evidence, and the evidence is there in abundance."
The SA National Conventions Bureau has set a target of increasing the size of South Africa’s business events industry by 57% by 2020.
"They seem to be well on track - 269 association conferences and events are already confirmed between now and 2018," he said.
"These events will bring no fewer than 310 000 professionals to South Africa and will contribute more than R4.2bn to our economy."
The Conventions Bureau, working with established methodologies deployed by the World Bank, has quantified the benefits to be derived from the successful implementation of its strategy.
These benefits can be measured in terms of economic impact, new employment, knowledge transfer and transformation.
"Just considering the incremental tax revenues to be generated for government: The ratio is calculated to be 1 to 16. In other words, for every R1 we invest from government side, we stand to gain R16 in tax revenue," he said.
"What really excites me about business events is that it is not only businesses involved in tourism that benefit from hosting international events."
Through hosting meetings and events, SA is able to develop its intellectual capital and showcase fields and sectors where it has innovation and excellence to present to experts from around the world.
This creates new networking and business opportunities and it helps to position SA to benefit from the rapidly evolving global knowledge economy. It advances trade, technology transfer and foreign direct investment.
Meetings Africa
"Gradually, through the work that we do, specifically with our annual trade show, Meetings Africa, the global business events industry is recognising that Africa offers much more than previously thought," said Hanekom.
"The SA National Conventions Bureau has been instrumental in bringing our African partners, associations and stakeholders to the table to realise the benefits of working together."
Next year the show will celebrate its tenth anniversary.
"We are succeeding in showing the world that Africa can deliver world class business meetings and that we offer a safe and stable environment to host conferences. We boast world-class infrastructure and deliver on what we promise," he said.
Greening of events
An important trend globally is the introduction of requirements for the greening of events and conferencing.
SAACI has played a role in the Event Greening Forum, which is working to promote and embrace sustainable and ethical business practices within the events industry in South Africa.
"Very soon, sustainability practices will become a much more stringent license to operate," said Hanekom.
"When you consider this imperative, I would encourage you to think beyond green building design and energy efficiency in physical facilities. You will have to look into your supply chains, including the procurement of sustainable food supplies, lower-carbon land transport and waste management. And, very importantly, the extent to which local communities benefit."
Given the socio-economic challenges in SA, Hanekom said the constant question to ask should be whether positive legacies are created through mega-events and major conferences, but also through minor events and smaller meetings.
"Your task is not only to ‘do the right thing’, but also to educate and raise awareness in your supply chains and among those that participate in the events and meetings that you host," he said.
"So much can be achieved just by changing behaviour – in addition to the potential advances achievable through greater water and energy efficiency."
- Fin24
