Cape Town may end up with a seamless convention/entertainment precinct if  negotiations for the long-planned expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) are successful, says CEO, Rashid Toefy.
 
Speaking at the CTICC's annual results press briefing, he said expansion on the earmarked site to the east of the current complex (at the bottom of Heerengracht Street) would link the CTICC to Founders' Garden, the Artscape theatre complex and the city's new rapid transit bus system, creating one convention/entertainment precinct.  He said negotiations for the site were at a critical stage but he didn't want to pre-empt the outcome by revealing too much. However, he hoped to announce details by December, with a planned opening in 2014.
 
Despite the global recession, CTICC produced a positive 2009/10 financial year-end result, entrenching the status of Cape Town and the Western Cape as a "highly-attractive national and international business tourism destination", Toefy said.
 
CTICC posted a nett profit of more than R14m and made a contribution of R2,3bn to the national GDP, resulting in the creation of more than 3 000 jobs in the Western Cape and 7 080 direct and indirect jobs in South Africa. Since its inception at a cost of R500m, CTICC has contributed R14bn to the national economy and is expected to contribute another R17bn over the next five years. It is anticipated to generate 8 000 jobs in South Africa annually by 2015.
 
He said despite the global recession, CTICC had outperformed its budget by 7% last year with total revenues of R139,9m and an almost R43m contribution to its holding company, Convenco.
 
During the past year, CTICC generated more than 1,1m delegate, visitor and tourist days in Cape Town, 35% or 388 000 of which were international delegate days. As a result of induced tourism generated by CTICC, international tourists spent over 342 000 days in South Africa. This is expected to increase to 550 000 days by 2015.
 
CTICC also provided hospitality training for 50 unemployed people and employed 50 temporary staff on annual contracts during the past year, boosting its workforce from 99 to 150. Some 54% of all of CTICC's procurement was spent with BEE businesses and suppliers and it awarded 13 new tenders in excess of R20m to SMMEs.
 
Toefy said Cape Town was still the top destination for conferences in Africa and the Middle East after retaining its 35th position in the 2009 International Congress and Convention Association global ranking.
 
Chief Operating Officer, Joey Pather, said while CTICC had seen a drop in average delegate numbers and occupied exhibition space, high occupancy levels had been maintained, averaging close on 60% across all exhibition halls, representing an 11% increase from 2009.  CTICC hosted 533 events, including 39 international conferences and 37 national conferences, compared with 34 and 33 respectively in 2009. "The centre's success in the face of tough economic conditions can be attributed to CTICC having focused on international association business as these markets are fairly recession-proof," he said. CTICC already has 411 events booked until 2016.