The Sandton Convention Centre, which has become a powerful magnet for business tourism to SA, celebrates its fifth anniversary this year as it sets out to become Africa's premier conference venue.

Over the past five years, the centre has hosted more than 4,500 events, mainly exhibitions and conferences, including major international showpieces such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.

Nomaxabiso Majokweni, executive director of the centre, says in the process the privately owned venue has been a catalyst in bringing the economic spin offs of business tourism and foreign direct investment to SA.

At the same time, the centre takes pride in the fact that 70% of its activities are anchored to domestic business, while it is also playing an increasingly important role as a regional hub for conferences and exhibitions from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and further afield in the rest of Africa, she says.

Majokweni says one of the most significant developments since the centre's inception in 2000 has been the recognition of business tourism globally as a formal sub-set of the wider tourism industry in its own right. Recently the UN classified business tourism as a formalised business sector.

"This in effect is SA's answer to the seasonality of tourism. Many of the important events at the Sandton Convention Centre take place in off-season months, such as May, August and September, that are not typical leisure tourism months. It means that as other leisure tourism activity tapers off we inject much-needed tourism spend into the economy, which is a big plus for Gauteng province and the country."

In the past five years the centre attracted about 1,3-million visitors, of whom 16% have come from other countries, including the rest of Africa. Five years ago a contribution such as this by a single conference venue was simply not part of the overall economic equation, Majokweni says.

She cites the recent 18th World Petroleum Congress as a typical example. The exhibition component of the congress took up 15,000m² of space.

"Of about 400 exhibitors, about 80% were international exhibitors, many of them in SA, or even in Africa, for the first time. Major events such as this contribute to foreign direct investment promotion through business linkages and partnerships, which in turn lead to business deals. In this manner, the work we do has far-reaching consequences for the country."

Majokweni says the high quality and calibre of business attracted by the centre dovetails naturally with Sandton's image as the business and financial hub of SA.

"Other exhibitions that used to take place elsewhere in SA have established a home at the centre, because Sandton attracts serious business people to conventions and exhibitions, both as delegates and visitors."

The centre's centralised location and its accessibility is another major factor in its success, says Majokweni.

"We have the highest concentration of hotel rooms within walking distance, spread across about seven hotels, than any other convention centre in SA, and the accommodation spin-offs from events taking place here for these businesses are substantial."

Over the duration of the World Petroleum Congress, for example, some hotels generated as much business in five days as they would normally expect to do in several months, while a car-rental company could not supply sufficient chauffeur-driven cars to meet the demand, she says.

Majokweni says that a noticeable trend has been the growth in exhibition participation from the SADC region and beyond, in line with international trends in which exhibition muscle has developed as a regional activity, evolving later into exhibitions with global links.

However, Africa still commands only 2% share of the total international business tourism cake - "and this means there is more work to be done in growing our share of global market".

Representatives from the Sandton Convention Centre and two other major centres in the business tourism sector will accompany a South African Tourism delegation to London and Amsterdam to promote SA as a business tourist destination.

Majokweni says the centre will be particularly active in seeking to expand its market share.

"But we need to attract business that will have appropriate economic spin-offs for SA. Our vision of being Africa's premier conference venue will be showcased, providing value-added service and understanding our client's business needs and objectives, so that we can help them to realise their much-needed return on investment from the events they hold here," she says.

Business Day
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge