Conferencing in the Western Cape is off to a good start in 2016, with two bids worth almost R2 billion (€118 million) secured.

According to Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, the official destination marketing, investment and trade promotion agency for the province, the World Ophthalmology Congress will take place at the CTICC in 2020 and the International Fiscal Association in 2022.

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“These two conferences combined will bring a total of 16300 delegates to the province generating some R262 million (€15 million) for the economy.”

Harris said conferencing and events was an increased focus of the organisation that had a dedicated conferencing team who were tasked with promoting Cape Town and the Western Cape to the world.

Harris said business confidence in Cape Town in particular was growing and it was being seen as a world-class conferencing destination.

“The recent Mining Indaba is a good example of this. We don’t have mining in the Western Cape compared to many other provinces in the country yet the continent’s biggest mining conference is held in Cape Town every year,” he said.

Harris said with assets such as the Cape Town International Convention Centre, which was voted the best conference facility in the country two years in a row and currently being upgraded, as well as new venues opening such as the Century City Conference Centre that can accommodate close to 2 000 guests, that the City was sending a clear message to the world showing its readiness for the conferencing and events sector.

“The conference industry is essential to the growth of the Western Cape. In the past five years, over 120 conference bids with an economic impact of R25,4 billion (€1,5 billion) have been secured in the Western Cape. We are aiming to increase these figures through a dedicated programme to attract new conferences, and boost the numbers of delegates who attend,” Premier Helen Zille said at the State of the Province Address held on February 19.