South African Tourism announced that it is leading a group of exhibitors made up of South African business owners and officials at IMEX Frankfurt in Germany.
IMEX Frankfurt is one of the largest trade shows in Europe for the business events industry, and according to the tourism body, it is taking a clear message of an attractive and capable South Africa ready to welcome and host big and small events.
Team South Africa is on a mission to secure even more events for the country as it showcases the country’s Meetings Incentives Conference and Exhibitions (MICE) products.
According to Zinhle Nzama, Acting Chief Convention Bureau Officer at the South Africa National Convention Bureau (SANCB), a business unit of South African Tourism, they attend trade shows such as IMEX Frankfurt with a bold and unambiguous goal of getting even more business events hosted in South Africa.
“Through the variety of products that we take to IMEX Frankfurt, we show that our country has all the infrastructure and amazing beauty to host unique events that surpass expectations. At IMEX Frankfurt, we also collaborate with the rest of the African continent in driving the message of an attractive and capable continent,” said Nzama.
Nzama said that their sector strategy, which focuses on attracting business events, is aligned with the national government’s key priority areas.
“A big part of our secured events for the next few years cover sectors such as Medical Sciences, Life Sciences, Agriculture, Creative industries and Manufacturing. We are committed to driving this even more so that we can continue to meaningfully contribute to the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan,” she said.
SAT also revealed that by actively going out and securing these sector-aligned business events at trade shows, such as IMEX Frankfurt, the South African business events sector contributes to the country’s economic development.
It said that South SANCB has been hard at work partnering with various cities and provinces to secure big events to be hosted in South Africa, and as a result, various established international and regional meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions are making a welcomed return with about 87 conferences secured to take place between 2023 and 2027 and contributing more than R2 billion to the South African economy.
“At trade shows such as IMEX Frankfurt, we meet and connect with different partners and event organisers, as well as association representatives, who are looking for the next place or destination to host their business events.
“Through these engagements, we show them that South Africa is a great destination of choice as we have all the quality-assured facilities and venues, and we pride ourselves on high service excellence,” said Nzama.