CAPE Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) has won a bid to host the triennial International Congress on Hyperbaric Medicine in 2011, which will bring 500 leading specialists in the treatment of decompression sickness and underwater medicine to South Africa. CTICC beat Argentina, Canada and Sweden to host the conference from March 16 - 19, 2011. Hyperbaric medicine, known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), is the medical use of oxygen at a higher than atmospheric pressure. It is an area of medicine that is advancing rapidly and the University of Stellenbosch is a leading trainer in the field. CTICC md, Dirk Elzinga, said winning the bid was a major coup for Cape Town. “The ICHM conference has never been in Africa before and Cape Town’s win sets an important precedent. This congress will have a large exhibition component and together will present significant opportunities for local business and tourism in the Western Cape.” CTICC has a portfolio of 134 international congresses booked for the next eight years until 2016. The latest win follows last month’s announcement of four other international congresses that will be coming to Cape Town between 2010 and 2014. These include 350 nuclear scientists from 60 countries attending the Youth Nuclear Congress in July 2010; 2000 delegates at the 62nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in October 2011; 500 people attending the 8th International Aquarium Congress in September 2012; and 2000 international trade unionists attending the December 2014 congress of the UNI-Global Union Congress.