THE rise of Cape Town and the Western Cape as an internationally recognised business tourism destination will help sustain current infrastructure upgrades ahead of the 2010 World Cup, says Calvyn Gilfellan, acting ceo of Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU). He says the infrastructure investment will increase the region’s competitiveness and help secure even more business for 2010 and beyond.
Gilfellan was speaking at the media launch of Back2Business (B2B), an annual event marking the beginning of the conference year and being held on January 25 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). It allows the congress and events industry to discuss prospects, challenges and plans for the coming year. The event is hosted by the CTRU’s Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau, the CTICC, the Southern African Association of the Congress Industry (Saaci) and the Exhibition Association of Southern Africa (Exsa).
The Convention Bureau will also be promoting the city and province at a series of events over the next month including Meetings Africa, AIME 2008 (the 16th Asia Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo in Melbourne, Australia) and by hosting important decision-makers.
Gilfellan said Cape Town was the top convention destination in Africa and had helped boost South Africa’s ranking as a global convention destination from 63rd to 27th place and had helped place the country among the top 10 international incentive travel destinations. Cape Town was currently ranked 29th internationally by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and was hoping to improve on this when the next rankings were released in May this year.
He said Cape Town and the Western Cape habitually won 90% of conferences they bid for. Cape Town had secured 15 international association bids that would draw an estimated 32 300 business tourists until 2014, contributing R342m to the local economy. A further 14 bids were submitted, potentially bringing an additional 16 290 visitors and a further R138m to the destination until 2021.
He said 10 conferences, congresses and conventions worth R166,5m and attracting 16 300 delegates were secured for 2010.
In addition to doubling CTICC’s exhibition space to meet future demand, infrastructural upgrades ahead of 2010 included R1,3bn being spent at Cape Town International Airport, including a R900m terminal with air bridges, parking garages, roads and rail links to the city centre. About R30bn was being invested in public transport and infrastructure in the Western Cape, while R1,2bn would be used to upgrade the railway system. At least seven new hotels were due to open in the next two years.
