The municipal council for the Mother City is set to deliberate on a proposal for the City of Cape Town to support We Are Africa for the next three years. The continent’s leading luxury travel trade fair has been hosted in Cape Town since 2014.

Council approval will pave the way for the city’s Events Department to enter into an agreement to provide support to the We Are Africa event for the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years.

We Are Africa is a major event where people from around the globe meet in the Mother City to get a taste of the continent’s luxury travel brands.

It hosts over 1 000 delegates annually at DHL Stadium, including exhibitors from around Africa, international tourism agents, international media and local tourism industry professionals.

The four-day event consists of conferences, workshops, exhibitions, an awards ceremony, sunrise adventures, media programmes and networking opportunities.

An agreement for support for the event comes into effect this month when the eighth edition of We Are Africa takes place from May 15-18.

“Over the last decade, We Are Africa has established itself as the leading gathering for global Africa specialists and leading luxury travel brands. During that period, it has hosted over 5 500 delegates, most of whom flew down to Cape Town to attend the event. On average, the delegates spend over R2 500 (€124) a day directly on local businesses, which provides a much-needed boost for the retail, hospitality and tourism sectors,” said City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith.

“This is a platform where Africa and the world’s luxury tourism professionals make deals that set the industry forward. We believe entering into a multi-year agreement with the event will provide a platform for growth for the above sectors as they steadily recover following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also the perfect platform to market Cape Town as a leading international high-end leisure destination, an innovative and leading international meetings and events destination.”

Some of the trade show’s achievements over the last nine years:

• It has doubled its annual registered delegates from just over 500 in 2014 to nearly 1 100 in 2019.
• It has hosted over 5 500 tourism professionals from all over the world.
• We Are Africa has donated over R500 000 (€24 710) to local charities.
• In terms of direct economic impact to Cape Town, We Are Africa generates around R15 million (€741 300) in direct visitor spending from more than 800 business travellers in the city’s low season.