AFRICAN MICE RESEARCH

AFRICAN MICE:

RECOVERY IN 2022 AND EXPECTATIONS OF 2023

Rivania Govender, research specialist at Niche Partners, proposes that collaboration could be the key to unlocking the full potential of the African MICE sector’s recovery.

Two years after the start of Covid-19, the business events industry was given the green light to open its doors and welcome the return of significant annual events in many countries on the continent. A reflection of the recovery of key industry events such as Meetings Africa, Africa’s Travel Indaba and World Travel Market is worth reviewing to assess the economic recovery in 2022.

THE RETURN OF KEY CONTINENTAL EVENTS

Despite the fact that the industry took a beating, and an unprecedented number of businesses were forced to close during the lockdowns, the business events industry is rebuilding itself by becoming more resilient and foundationally stronger. The return of these continental MICE events has allowed African economic activity to regenerate throughout the value chain (South African Tourism, 2022).

The recovery of the business events industry has coincided with the recovery of the aviation industry. Although the African aviation sector was negatively impacted during Covid, it is slowly gaining momentum. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has forecast a pre-pandemic recovery in 2024, with African air travel experiencing a 103.6% rise in June 2022 revenue passenger-kilometres (RPKs, the standard measure for air travel demand) versus a year ago. June 2022 capacity was up 61.9% and load factor climbed 15.2 percentage points to 74.2% (where load factor is the percentage of available seat kilometres used by passengers – i.e. roughly three in four seats were filled on flights). This is the lowest increase among regions (IATA, 2022). PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African proverb The MICE industry is part of a much larger ecosystem than just one destination. To achieve shared organisational successes, the industry increased its joint ventures, partnerships and collaborations in 2022.

The East Africa Tourism Platform is one example of such private-sector collaboration. The platform – comprising five African countries: Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi – works to promote inter- and intraregional tourism through advocacy, marketing, skills development, research and information sharing.

During the pandemic, the collaboration expanded its partnership to increase tourism visitors in all participating countries while also strengthening networks and partnerships. The goal of the partnership is to remove barriers to tourism, trade and socio-cultural development in the region (East African Tourism Platform).

The African Union’s socio-economic flagship programme, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), is another example of partnership on the continent. Nepad was

A REFLECTION OF KEY BUSINESS EVENTS 2019 2022

Meetings Africa

Africa’s Travel Indaba

338 exhibitors 721 buyers 5 200 meetings 3 330 attendees 1 033 exhibitors 1 502 buyers 6 500 attendees 209 exhibitors 161 buyers 4 000 meetings 1 000 attendees 655 exhibitors 955 buyers 14 000 meetings 3 700 attendees

WTM Africa

657 exhibitors 226 buyers ≈6 300 meetings -

500 buyers 7 000 meetings 6 200 attendees Sources: Meetings Africa; 2019, 2022 Travel Indaba; 2019, 2022 | WTM Africa; 2019, 2022

established in 2001 as a “roadmap for continental development”. Its four main objectives are to eradicate poverty, promote sustainable growth and development, integrate Africa into the global economy, and accelerate women’s empowerment.

Two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed between the African Union Development Agency (AUDA), Nepad and the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) – the first in 2016 and the second during the regional conference on strengthening brand Africa for the swift recovery of the tourism sector, which took place in Namibia in June 2021.

The first MoU’s implementation led to important outcomes like the launch of the African Tourism Tech Adventure – a platform to support young entrepreneurs in the tourism industry and offer technology-based tourism solutions. The agreement also led to the provision of technical assistance for the development of the African Regional Tourist Strategy, which would help the continent’s tourism industry grow.

The second MoU’s main goals are to advance tourism as a tool for development in Africa in accordance with the UNWTO’s agenda for the continent, which is also in line with initiatives outlined in Agenda 2063, to forge solid alliances to support the growth of the continent’s tourism industry, and to assist African nations in developing strategies to quickly recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic (AUDA-Nepad, 2021).

The East Africa Platform and Nepad are two examples of partnerships to achieve common goals, which will continue to be necessary in 2023. In addition to crossorganisational collaborations in the MICE industry, opportunities for co-creation with emerging industries exist. The inaugural annual ranking of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies by the Financial Times provided insight into the corporate landscape on a continent where annual compounded growth rates for businesses in technology, fintech, support services and agricultural commodities have increased exponentially (Financial Times, 2022). Since the MICE sector promotes networking, trade and education, 2023 presents an opportunity to collaborate with these various industries.

GROWING AFRICA’S MICE SECTOR STARTS WITH YOU

Have you participated in the African Perspectives on the MICE Industry Report survey? Take part and help to grow the knowledge base and business development of MICE on the continent.

Client survey:

https://forms.gle/ meL2Zn6ZUA1XcCXM9

Supplier survey:

https://forms.gle/ dFeJzSMQ2WZyD4T9A For more information or assistance, please contact Rivania Govender, research specialist at Niche Partners, on sales@nichepartners.org or +27 (0)79 104 6538.