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Cape Town - The events industry in South Africa can play a big role in changing perceptions of South Africa overseas, according to Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, executive manager of the SA National Convention Bureau (SANCB).
In her presentation at the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (Saaci) in Cape Town she said the vision of the SANCB is to move South Africa higher up in the ranks as a business destination.
In 2014 a total of 11 505 meeting of international associations were held worldwide, of which SA hosted 124. SA is currently ranked the number one destination in Africa and the Middle East for international conferences and number 32 globally.
Apart from helping with bids, the SANCB also helps with suppliers and what Kotze-Nhlapo calls "delegate boosting" - in other words to get more and more business tourists to come to SA.
"We at the SANCB cannot just do it by ourselves, all of us in the events industry must work together," she said.
"We must inspire each other to create unforgettable events in SA. When we work as one, we win as one."
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She said it is also important to look at the regional spread of events hosting in South Africa.
"The variety of events we at the SANCB go after is so wide and big that we can also help our regions and our provincial tourism industries. This industry is very powerful in bringing money into SA... of course we can always do better, but it is a good sign that since 2011 SA's ranking as a conference destination has improved steadily," said Kotze-Nhlapo.
"Yes, maybe there are some negatives to address, but as a country we are definitely still moving up in the rankings and we can grow to be better and more."
There are three main host cities in SA. Cape Town hosts about 47% of the international conferences, Gauteng about 19% and Durban about 15%.
"We have been putting our efforts together for SA, so it does not matter how many conferences which city gets, at least they are coming to SA and in the end the associations decide where in SA they want to go," said Kotze-Nhlapo.
The SANCB also targets sectors when bidding for events and in deciding which venue in SA would be best suited.
To her the proof of the performance of the events industry in SA is in the data. For instance, just under 70 000 delegates attended the 124 meetings hosted in SA last year. The average size per meeting was 568 delegates and the largest was 7 400 delegates.
"So when we agreed on a business events strategy, it was about the money we can bring to SA by offering more and better events at our destination so we can help with job creation and contribute to the gross domestic product," she explained.
Whereas there is a big focus on natural science and medical science events, Kotze-Nhlapo said it is also important to try and bring more tech and engineering events to SA.
"We have to go and find the people where they are and convince them to come and host their events in SA," she said.
Research shows that business delegates spend on average 9 days in SA, of which on average 5 days are at the event itself. About 32.9% of delegates travelled in SA on holiday prior to the event and 34% said they travelled on holiday in SA after the event they came to attend. Delegates are mostly from SA's core markets like the UK and US and other African countries.
"So the events industry does influence the general tourism industry. Delegates often also bring their partners with them and that is an extra spend in our tourism industry," she said.
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Knowledge economy
She also asked the SA events industry to work with the SANCB and grow the number of African association meetings hosted in SA. She sees this as having a big potential for SA's events industry as only 11 of the international meetings taking place in SA last year were African association meetings.
In contrast, 80% of the conferences taking place in Paris, for instance, are from other European associations.
"So, you can help our continent by helping us at the SANCB to spread the knowledge economy. It is all about business development, networking, regulation and education," she told the delegates.
"I think if we can get the African continent to come together, we can all benefit and grow much further."
Kotze-Nhlapo also emphasised the need for sound data and research in the events industry, a project with which the SANCB is continuing.
