The first Business Tourism Indaba was held in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, on June 13, hosted by Stellenbosch 360.

SA Tourism CEO, Sisa Ntshona, said during his address that the aim to further develop and stimulate business tourism in the Stellenbosch region had the full endorsement and support of SA Tourism. He emphasised that growth in the region was an important aspect of SA Tourism’s strategy to draw five million tourists to SA in the upcoming years.

Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, SA Tourism’s Executive Manager for the Conventions Bureau, highlighted the potential of smaller international meetings to help improve geographic distribution of tourism beyond the major centres. She also spoke about the bidding fund, which was announced in February and will allocate R90 million (€6.2m)  over the next three years to assist cities and towns to aggressively bid for conferences, meetings, incentives and exhibitions.

CEO of Stellenbosch 360, Annemarie Ferns, said: “I believe that after five years of hard work, we now have both a buy-in and mandate from the key local and national institutional role-players and a strategy on the table to position Stellenbosch as a living conference centre and town that – with all its wonderful and renowned tourism attributes – will make an enormous impact on the future of our town and region’s economy.”

The event was at full capacity, with more than 200 in attendance, with media present.