While the business events industry in South Africa, as in many countries across the world, was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the country still has a variety of quality-assured business events products and services geared up to host safe events with service excellence.     

This is the message that 23 South African exhibitors, led by Deputy Minister of Tourism, Fish Mahlalela took to the world as they participated at IMEX Frankfurt, Germany, this week – held from May 31 to June 2 – back in the face-to-face format following a two-year absence.

“Given the scale and importance of IMEX Frankfurt, it is the ideal platform to provide the most updated information about destination South Africa. We want to reassure our partners from across the world that they can come to South Africa and have safe and successful events. South Africa is a vibrant business events destination. On the back of our rich heritage, natural beauty and our vibrant people, we have an opportunity to reclaim our share of big global events and, of course, international arrivals,” said Mahlalela. 

The Deputy Minister also attended the IMEX Frankfurt Policy Forum on the first day of the trade show, joining world leaders as they deliberated on redefining and influencing the future direction of business events related to policy-making and strategic destination management. 

“Being at IMEX Frankfurt reaffirmed our country’s credibility and it cements our commitment to growing business events even further. As clearly articulated at the Policy Forum, now more than ever, it is important that events return in physical form as they provide much-needed revenue injection and economic boost for the cities and the countries that host these events,” he said. 

A key component of South Africa’s business events strategy is to ensure that demand is met by adequate, diverse and unique tourism products and services to entice business events delegates to the country. To this end, various businesses, including tour operators, hotels, provincial and city tourism authorities, were among the exhibitors at IMEX Frankfurt. Significantly, among them were small tourism businesses (SMMEs), whose presence at IMEX Frankfurt is being subsidised by the South African government to give them access to the international market. 

The South African National Convention Bureau (SANCB) strategy is focused on key sectors of the economy as part of the country’s plan to contribute to the economy. Business events are a powerful catalyst for job creation and inclusive economic growth. The key sectors include: agriculture, business process outsourcing, creative studies, life sciences, education, communications technology, manufacturing, medical science, tourism and religion. 

“As a government, we remain committed to providing meaningful support to the operations of the sector that has seen so much loss,” added Mahlalela.

An SA Tourism spokesperson said the South Africa team had met with highly targeted international hosted buyers with whom they had pre-scheduled face-to-face meetings, and had used their interaction with various stakeholders to obtain market intelligence that would further inform the work that South African Tourism did in marketing the country as a business events destination. 

Global Exhibitions Day 

The global business events industry also commemorated Global Exhibitions Day on June 1 and the South Africa team connected live from Frankfurt to Johannesburg where the day was celebrated by the greater South African business events sector. 

“Having been at IMEX for the past few days, the importance of business events globally was once again highlighted with a clear message that if we do not continue with physical meetings then we will not be injecting money into the economies of the various cities and countries. 

“It was so encouraging to hear most of our partners talking positively about South Africa and affirming South Africa’s business events strategy of focusing on key economic sectors,” added Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, Chief Convention Bureau Officer at South African Tourism. 

The South Africa business events strategy is managed by SANCB, a business unit of South African Tourism, launched in 2012. 

Through SANCB, South Africa has been represented on various stages at different trade shows, and the team has contributed to the country hosting some of the biggest events that have brought billions of rands to the South African economy.