By Audrey d'Angelo

Cape Town - Cape Town's R582 million convention centre, due to officially open at the end of this month, is planning to run exhibitions in advance this week and next.

An expo of business equipment, organised by Business Equipment South Africa (Beqsa), would be the first of several planned and was destined to become an annual event, a spokesperson said yesterday.

The second expo will be organised by Decorex, the annual lifestyle and interior design show. It is expected to draw 40 000 visitors to the new centre.

"Demand for space has exceeded all expectations," said a spokesperson for the organisers of Decorex. "Decorex will take up all four of the halls at the convention centre and space is completely sold out."

Another 69 exhibitions and other events booked to take place at the centre between now and December next year ranged from an international trade fair for the wine making and fruit-growing industry to the North Sea Jazz Festival and the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) annual conference.

Rick Taylor, the chief executive of the Cape Town Convention Bureau, expected the ICCA conference to be the first step towards making Cape Town South Africa's centre for showcasing business travel. He expected it to lead to an annual business travel exhibition. Durban, which hosted SA Tourism's annual Indaba, remained the centre for showcasing leisure travel.

Taylor expected the Beqsa expo to become part of the business travel exhibition, which would include destination marketing as well as suppliers and new products from security to signage.