SANDTON FEATURE

Who is the Sandton Tourism & Business Association?

The Sandton Tourism & Business Association is a privately managed Section 21 non-profit Company. Established in 2000, it is believed to be the longest standing privately managed tourism association in the country. It is managed by a volunteer management committee and board of directors, comprised of senior leaders within our membership base.

As an Association, we are passionate about promoting Sandton as the business, tourism, leisure and retail hub of Gauteng. The area has long been recognised as the richest square mile in Africa, and we are one of the driving forces responsible for ensuring it remains top of mind to local, regional and international travellers visiting Gauteng.

Sandton is a destination of choice for many, and our membership includes everything from five-star hotels to guest houses, transport providers, conference centres, shopping centres, as well as varied retail offerings.

Our members are our friends, and we work hard to build relationships with them. Many of our smaller members are entrepreneurs who run one-man businesses and would not have access to the many opportunities we offer them to promote their business if they were not part of our membership.

As a one-stop shop for everything to do with Sandton and surrounds, we are a central hub for reaching various businesses easily and painlessly. For example, we can connect you to conference venues, accommodation vendors, transport and tour operators and more; all at the same time. Furthermore, because of our relationship with our members, we connect you directly to the decision maker in the business so you can receive the answers you are looking for, effortlessly.

The Association works to assist members to promote and market their businesses within the tourism and hospitality industry as well as to the public. We do this through our website, a bi-monthly newsletter which is emailed to a database of local, regional and international readers, and social media platforms.

In addition, we run regular member events which members and non-members are invited to attend, for a fee. Many of these are pure networking events, while some have interesting and relevant guest speakers.

Prior to the Covid-pandemic, we ran two industry workshops annually. Members were able to reach 100+ members of the retail travel trade, PCOs, corporate buyers and more at every workshop.

We recently launched online auctions on our website, through the commercial arm of Sandton tourism ventures. These are a means to raise additional income for the Association to do more for our members. The new Member-to-Member programme will launch later this year and it will be geared at encouraging members to make use of each other’s services. Just another way of growing members’ businesses.

If you would like to know more about the Association or becoming a member, please email secretariat@sandtontourism.com

The Sandton Tourism & Business Association members have this to say:

"We all have our own stories; enchanting stories of our families, and stories of how we grew up; the games we played, the clothes we wore, and the food we ate. Mine is a culinary story, by far, the workshops gave my story a beneficial wholesome podium for both my book and business.”

Eunice Rakhale-Molefe, founder of Culinary Storytelling/Book Tourism

"It’s fantastic being a member of STBA as there’s a large network of members to draw on to fulfill most of my company’s needs, as well as other of my business interests."

Joanne Horwitz, director of Umquele we Afrika

"GATHA is a trusted local tourism association, Sandton Tourism and Business Association have given us free membership, therefore our members, affiliates, private sector, Alexandra Community and business, and government have confidence in GATHA. Thank you for the ongoing support and exposure."

Paul Maluleke, chief executive officer of GATHA