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Rebuilding the industry together

Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau is committed to recovery for our industry and the provincial economy. We know that the business events industry will lead the way towards global economic recovery in the near future.

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By Sonto Mayise, acting chief convention bureau officer of the Durban KZN Convention Bureau.

As the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), we have taken swift and immediate steps to usher in recovery, such as collaborating with various stakeholders and the private sector. Our recovery efforts will continue and we look forward to being able to come together again as one industry.

While Covid-19 continues to affect our ability to host events and travel, the meetings and events industry will remain vulnerable. Yet, through the vision of its leaders and resilience of the industry members, Covid-19 is proving a catalyst for change, forcing the adoption of new skills and business models, as well as shifting the industry towards virtual and hybrid events. Many of us are working from home for the first time, while others are experts at remote work. However, this I believe, will never replace face-to-face meetings– we are social beings and need human connection; we miss face-to-face meetings already!

Looking ahead, we will continue working with the South African government in analysing the situation and following government regulations. We will continue adhering to the regulations whilst working on strategies for future recovery. As a province, we have negotiated with event owners and associations not to CANCEL but rather to POSTPONE the events which were supposed to be hosted from March 2020 and beyond, pushing them to later dates when it will once again be safe to host business events in our destination. There are currently no definite dates for the postponed events as no one has a crystal ball and the end of the pandemic remains unknown. It is safe to say that most of the events are tentatively postponed to the third quarter of 2021 and others for 2022, when the situation improves, of course. With talks of the vaccine on the horizon, we remain hopeful.

In terms of costs: before postponing or rescheduling an event because of Covid-19, we engage as parties and come to an agreement. Currently, there are no losses as all the events are postponed rather than cancelled. Should a situation arise that there are issues relating to cost recoveries, we will have to analyse their rights and obligations under relevant material agreements entered between parties. Unfortunately, Covid-19 is new for everyone so there is no one-size-fits-all approach. A valuable lesson for us as an organisation, going forward, is to seriously consider including viruses, epidemics and pandemics in the list of force majeure events in all our agreements.

Beyond Covid-19

As we continue with transformational travel, the CB will continue to push and extend the “experience economy” even further. Transformational travel proposes offering highly memorable, authentic experiences while connecting people with a deeper meaning that leads to personal growth and/or self-actualisation. The concept of transformational travel connects and incorporates concepts of wellness, sustainability, community and personal fulfilment through social responsibility programmes. To sum it all up, many of today’s incentive travellers desire more than fun in the sun with a piña colada in hand. Whether it’s a large or a small meeting, we will continue encouraging our partners and associations to have some sort of CSR programmes, to have some kind of positive impact on visitors when they come to the province.

Indeed, we are seeing a huge trend in both sustainability as well as give-back components and as the Convention Bureau would like to encourage our partners and event owners to include this programme in their conference and incentive programmes when hosting in KZN, this will be a long-lasting legacy for the destination as we rebuild together.

SMME and youth opportunities are also growing in the business events space in KZN, noting though that the growth is slower than expected because of several challenges including the fact that as the Convention Bureau, we do not own the events, we depend on the event owners and associations to deliver on this mandate.

Creating an environment of inclusivity is not just about making sure that there is compliance, but geographic spread is in the economic development of the various districts of KZN. This is also not happening at the speed we would like to see because of factors like accessibility and availability of suitable venues, but growth has been seen in hosting events in various other districts of KZN, outside of Durban.

In growing business events in KZN, the Convention Bureau has partnered with the International Association of Conference Organizers (IAPCO) in a programme where we train and equip SMMEs around the province to be major players in the business events space.

With the current situation, it is difficult to really predict what the future holds but we are excited with the future major events that are planned for the province for 2021 and beyond. The team has been hard at work, navigating through this pandemic but the results are showing, their hard work is commendable.

Recovery

While we cannot predict exactly what will happen, we do know that this difficult time will eventually pass. We will celebrate our successes and rebuild our industry again, one step at a time. Covid-19 has taught us that we are more resilient than we initially thought. However, maintaining your mental wellbeing is most essential; if that means seeing a therapist, so be it… there is no shame in that. It is okay to show vulnerability because you cannot do it all by yourself… #rebuildingtogether

Who is Sonto Mayise?

Sonto is by nature a determined woman. This she has shown by summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in 2019. This is the same determination she shows at work, no matter the task she is faced with.

Long before Sonto became the acting chief convention bureau officer of the Durban KZN Convention Bureau or before she was making waves in her own right. She already had the massive task of bringing mega conferences to the province, which have noticeably helped boost the economy. Her efforts have earned her a number of accolades including being one of the top 40 women in Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) in 2018. She was also recognised by the Premier of KZN as his Discretionary Award recipient at the Premier’s Excellence Awards 2018 and recently earned the Convention Bureau an important award – the 2020 Oliver Top Empowerment Award in the category of Public Services as the most commendable organisation. The master organiser that she is, Sonto has been instrumental in bringing to KZN events that have put the province on the international map, exposing it to both tourism and investment opportunities. Some of these events include: the 2016 Aids conference, the UN International Telecommunications Conference 2018, the BRICS Business Council 2018, the World Economic Forum on Africa 2017 as well as the Forbes Women Leadership Summit. Through these events, Sonto was able to expose the province to over 20 000 delegates collectively. In her current job, Sonto is tasked with orchestrating and spearheading four avenues in order to attract potential visitors to the province. Those avenues are to coordinate:

Meetings: primarily promoting KZN as the preferred destination for staging gatherings for the likes of product launches and meetings organised by global organisations and governments;

Incentives: focusing promoting accommodation and corporate travel agencies;

Conferences: whose key focus is on global, regional and local associations and lastly;

Exhibitions: tasked to look for national and international organisers who are enticed to host events or exhibitions in KZN. She has taken these tasks in her stride… Sonto is a highly energetic, creative thinker and a problem solver with outstanding relationship development skills and the ability to key in on strategic partnership issues.

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