As business tourism grows… Meetings Africa 2014 Nigeria manages to spring surprises that lift the spirits even amidst the depression all around us. It was so for Nigerian hosted buyers on the second day of Meetings Africa 2014 when the organisers named Nigerian-born professor of engineering at the University of Pretoria Prof Joe Amadi-Echendu as one of only five pioneer Ambassadors for South African Tourism. It was at the Gala Dinner for the 10th edition of Meetings Africa at the elegant Sandton Convention Centre, Sandton City, Johannesburg. Amadi-Echendu won as an ambassador readily promoting business tourism into South Africa. He showed why he won during our interaction and subsequent correspondences. He wrote, “Thank you for making acquaintance last evening during the Meetings Africa Gala Dinner. It is always refreshing to see another 9ja at such events. We just need to use our gifts to turn Nigeria into the great country that it can be. I quickly gave you a flyer for the ninth World Congress on Engineering Asset Management, which I will be hosting in Pretoria this year from 28-31 October. May I put you on the mailing list so that you can distribute notices about the Congress to your contacts, please?” Amadi-Echendu is focused and wastes no time in promoting business tourism to South Africa where he is fully settled. His emergence lifted the spirit following the earlier realization that Nigeria was not one of 13 African destinations exhibiting at this event and inviting the world to her facilities. Present were Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A pleasant presence was Nzan Ogbe, the brilliant man who manages the Calabar Festival, and is helping Governor Liyel Imoke realize the dream of an international convention centre and residence in Summit Hills, Calabar. Then the next morning, you wake up to front page mention of another Nigerian, Kase Lawal, ringing the bell at the Joburg Stock Exchange as he enrolled his CAMAC Energy on the Exchange. Business tourism is a combination of conferencing and leisure activities and the growing focus of South Africa’s tourism sector. It recognizes the fact of the difficulty of most executives creating specific travel time merely for tourism and thus incorporates leisure and traditional tourist activities into business travel for conferences, events and meetings. I was in Johannesburg for Meetings Africa 2014 as president of the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria. South Africa Tourism and the National Convention Bureau brought “hosted buyers” from 18 countries to this foremost business events trade show. There were • 169 international qualified hosted buyer delegates (up 15% on 2013) • 31 African Association hosted buyer delegates • 238 local corporate e buyer delegates (up 140% on last year) • 839 visitor delegates (an increase of 16%) • 262 exhibitors (up 11% on 2013) • 162 journalists (up by 19%) South Africa has hosted more than 97 conferences over the last five years according to the ranking criteria of the International Congress & Convention Association. They brought in more than 5000 delegates and about R636m ($63.6m) in revenues. Their five-year projection is of a further 80 conferences, revenues of R1.5b and 7000 delegates. Tokozile Xasa, deputy minister of tourism, projects 50 percent growth up to 2020. “Meetings Africa showcases Africa’s diverse offering of services and products where African associations and African meetings industry professionals can partner to help transform our continent”, is the official stated objective of the annual event held every February for the last nine years. The goal of the huge investment by the South Africans is a considerable ROI in increased visits for business tourism directly or indirectly through these participants. These people take business tourism seriously and realize the need to run it as a business proposition. Every link in the tourism chain understands their role and its importance, from the taxi driver through those who run the city tours to attendants at restaurants. Exhibitors included national and provincial tourism authorities, convention and visitor bureaus, conference and exhibition centres. There were also hotels and accommodation providers, destination management companies, event management specialists, transportation companies, as well as luxury trains, cruise lines, spa resorts, trade associations and travel trade publications. Events Management is one of 21 service areas and growing where PRCAN member firms offer services. We are sharing key learnings from this event with member firms.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 08:00:25 +0000