16 | AFRICA’S MICE MARKET POTENTIAL
CUTHBERT NCUBE
CUTHBERT NCUBE AND RASHID TOEFY IN CONVERSATION
GROWING AFRICA’S STAKE IN BUSINESS EVENTS
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frica has consistently proven its worth and capabilities in the last 3-5 years when it comes to hosting conferences, summits, indabas, exhibitions and association congresses. Examples of these include the UFI Congress at Sandton Convention Centre in 2017, the slew of international specialist scientific, agricultural, tech and medical conferences held in Cape Town, Durban or Kigali, or SA Tourism’s annual Meetings Africa and Africa’s Travel Indaba – the latter of which was cancelled this year due to COVID-19.
A BUSINESS ACCELERATOR The business events sector worldwide contributes billions to the global economy per annum and although an industry that contributed greatly to both a country’s economic and brand perceptions was brought to its knees this year, it may just be the perfect time to place Africa on the map internationally. The region has already been growing its profile within the annual ICCA Rankings with some of the aforementioned cities taking the top spots in Africa. However where the gap lies is in comparing the number association meetings held in an African city versus one in the top 10, most likely to be a destination in Europe or the Americas.
VIRTUAL EVENTS ALONE CANNOT BE THE FUTURE In a fiery and passionate panel discussion on Thursday, 8 October, some of the business events industry’s brightest minds came together to exchange insights and explore new ways of presenting Africa to a post-pandemic world through business events. Linda Pereira was emphatic in her statements, saying that the trend towards virtual events alone cannot last forever. “We do not want to stay in virtual events. We’re human, we like face to face meetings, serendipity, connection.” She did concede,
BUSINESS EVENTS AS A CATALYST FOR GROWTH
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