Page 13 - Quarterly N°2 2017 Eng

SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY IN ROME: NEWSLETTER

.

SA Ranked top business events destination in

Africa

The Minister of Tourism, Tokozile Xasa, announced recently that the International Congress and

Convention Association (ICCA) continues to rank South Africa as the top business events desti-

nation in Africa and the Middle East.

“We are also one of the world’s top 10 long-haul destinations for hosting international meetings

and conferences,” the Minister said.

Speaking at the 2017 Southern Africa Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) Con-

gress in Pretoria, Minister Xasa said South Africa hosted about one million business delegates

every year and that the average business traveller spent seven days in South Africa, with five of

those days being spent attending a business event.

“Hosting more major international business conferences will also help develop our intellectual

capital and position us as a world-leading knowledge economy,” the Minister added.

In 2016, South Africa hosted 17 more international and regional association conferences than

in 2015, bringing the total number of ICCA-recognised conferences to 125. These conferences

generate a direct economic benefit for South Africa, which includes what delegates spend on

hotel accommodation, food and beverages, and souvenirs.

"There is an indirect benefit as well. The business event delegates who we host annually return

home to sell our country to others by word of mouth, and indeed, many will return here on holi-

day and some may consider investing in South Africa,” Minister Xasa said.

Minister Xasa stressed that return visits were dependent on South Africa continuing to provide

providing quality services and products to tourists.

“It’s clear that our position as a magnet for business events is certainly strong, but it is a posi-

tion that we need to vigorously defend and improve on."

The Minister also said Government would like to see more of South Africa’s smaller towns and

cities bidding for smaller meetings, where they can meet the hosting requirements.

“This will help to improve the geographic distribution of tourism beyond the major centres, and

spread the wealth generated by these events more equitably. Our challenge is to shift more and

more of our national and international business events to our smaller towns, so that we spread

13