MEETINGS AFRICA REPORT

Meetings Africa 2023 — a resounding success

The 17th edition of Meetings Africa, Africa’s premier business events show – a flagship of the South Africa National Convention Bureau (SANCB) – brought together some 325 exhibitors from 23 African countries and over 375 hosted buyers from more 60 countries. The event took place from 27 February to 1 March at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

Showcasing a fresh look and feel through its new logo, Meetings Africa 2023, created opportunities for Africa’s business events sector so that the African continent can regrow more vitally than ever before “Our new look represents this new injection of energy and is an emphasis on the importance that we place on connections,” Mr Themba Khumalo, acting chief executive officer of South African Tourism said. This energy was certainly felt on the pulsating Meetings Africa trade floor opening ceremony on 28 February.

All hosted buyers went through a globally benchmarked vetted process to ensure the best quality buyers for this market. ends

Fish Mahlalela, keynote speaker and deputy minister of tourism, South Africa, emphasised the importance of collaboration to fast-track development in Africa. He said: “We must explore potential areas of collaboration and partnerships in the African convention and exhibition industry to achieve globally benchmarked standards.”

Mr Mahlalela explained that Meetings Africa is a trade show that brings the African continent’s business events, products and offerings under a single roof, with a specific focus on SMMEs and their value chain to the entire tourism sector. The deputy minister also commended the South Africa National Convention Bureau (SANCB) for securing 34 of the 79 bids for international meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions for the first three quarters of the year. The secured bids, he said are estimated to contribute R288-million to the South African economy between 2022 and 2025, a great return on investment on the 17.3-million the SANCB had invested in the bid support programme.

Fresh ideas boost the economy

Zinhle Nzama, acting chief convention bureau officer of the SANCB, said the show’s new theme Africa’s success built on quality connections is about connecting people and ideas that will drive Africa forward. “Expanding African representation means that we are looking to bring in fresh ideas and to show our partners that this platform is serious about boosting Africa’s economic development.”

Ms Nzama referred to Meetings Africa’s new logo and positioning as a symbol of developing new perspectives that can restore the business events industry to profitability. “To stay relevant and fresh, we would need to deploy a bit of elasticity to our thinking. That means we would need to share our unique differentiators and stories in person and learn from our peers and industry leaders on how to succeed in the future.”

Ms Nzama, added: “The trade show is all about buyers meeting suppliers, resulting in real business opportunities and sales, some of which materialise years later.”

She emphasised the importance of sustainable tourism practices, explicitly mentioning the Green Stand Award and Sustainability Village.

One of the highlights of the event was the Business Opportunity Networking Day (BONDAy), which featured tourism industry experts, disruptors, and data specialists.

BONDay, is an educational opportunity for newbies and seasoned campaigners in the tourism sector to share ideas, engage and collaborate.

BONDay also included the first African edition of the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC) Summit, as well as the standing feature which is the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Association Day.

In addition, BONDay delegates were spoiled for choice, with over 30 experts across four stages tackling current industry challenges and ideating towards innovative solutions to propel the industry and the continent.

7,000 meetings were confirmed using the online diary system this year, compared to 3,000 in 2022.

The business exchanges and connections made at Meetings Africa 2023 are expected to have a long-term impact, leading to policy changes, new partnerships, and increased business opportunities to benefit Africa’s business events industry for years to come.

During the opening ceremony, Thozamile Botha, the South African Tourism Board chairperson, highlighted the importance of quality connections for Africa’s success.

“Our mission is to grow Africa’s business events sector and work alongside our partners across the continent to drive the continent’s growth,” Mr Botha said.

He highlighted the ‘plug and meet’ pavilion, which allowed 20 SMMEs full access to Meetings Africa 2023, and the platform for 45 SMMEs to showcase their products.

Exhibitor Feedback

Destination Marketing, Rwanda Convention Bureau

Meeting s Africa was a huge success for Rwanda. Not only did we generate solid leads that we are converting, Rwanda won the best Green Stands Award in medium stands. The award is a true testimony of Rwanda’s efforts towards environmental protection, which is an important action towards achieving UNSDG’s goals. In addition, to a successful Meetings Africa, we can highlight other important events Rwanda is hosting this year, which solidifies Rwanda’s positioning as a preferred hub for business events on the African content.

Kivedo, creative director Overall Events & Communications

Meetings Africa 2023 felt like it was filled with more purpose and focused on creating an open flow for tourism engagement. The quality of the connections and interactions is a source of encouragement and inspiration. I loved it all.

Phenyo Marumo, regional marketing and communications manager, Minor Hotels

This year’s Meetings Africa was not only categorised by creative and eco-friendly exhibition stands, extraordinary performances, inspiring talks and speeches from industry leaders, and loads of networking opportunities amongst industry peers. It was also encouraging to see the increase in the number of meetings requested and held by the teams. Meetings were not just a tick box exercise, but we got to see leads being generated and deals being done, meaning that business confidence is on the rise. It was also motivating to see the number of walk-in enquiries, showing that the business of travel is back. It is important to keep the momentum post Meetings Africa, by forging meaningful relationship and effective partnerships by delivering quality products to both business events and leisure aggregators and consumers.

Elmarie Swanepoel, sales manager of Southern Sun

Meetings Africa — the place to be! Connections, stimulating discussions and lucrative business opportunities unlocking possibilities to restart and increase our business.”

Minister Kganyago, Business Development Manager, CSIR ICC

Meetings Africa 2023 was a worthwhile investment. It gave us, as role players, the opportunity to get a real sense of the buyer’s appetite so that we better align ourselves and our product to meet their needs. We went in understanding that relationships are better than transactions. Therefore, from that point of departure, we strived to establish strong foundations with the identified buyers across the globe, trusting that good results will come out of our efforts in the foreseeable future. It is indeed exciting to see that the industry is well on its way to full recovery and we are optimistic about what lies ahead.

Irene Vallihu, sales and business executive, Durban ICC

Meetings Africa 2023, what a buzz! With a multitude of educational events, networking events, productive meetings, and building connections with national and international clients and stakeholders, Meetings Africa undoubtedly reignited the business events industry.

Nikki Wiedemann, co-founder, Destination Mozambique

As a destination, Mozambique is ready to host the inbound business events market. Meetings Africa delivered on all levels of our expectations regarding quality of buyers and organisation of the tradeshow. It was encouraging to see more African countries participating, too, which offered further networking opportunities and meaningful discussions to collaboratively strengthen our presence internationally for inbound business events into Africa.

Liezel Haarhoff, general manager of The Kelway Hotel

Great to see so much interest in what our country still has to offer to tourism and the business events industry and sure, it means we are steadily back on track to recovery.