SITE NEWS

SITE Africa welcomes the level 1 adjustment

South African members of SITE Africa are carefully optimistic following South Africa’s recent adjustment to level 1 restrictions for Covid-19.

By Tes Proos, president of Site Africa

Meetings and events are now permitted with up to 750 guests indoors and 2,000 outdoors, with Covid-19 protocols and social distancing still in play. This potentially, is excellent news for venues and related suppliers as it presents great opportunities for short term business, especially from the domestic market.

For the inbound incentive market however, it may take a great deal longer before this sector reaps the benefits. The incentive sector has seen massive postponements and cancellations during the first global lockdowns. The following lockdowns and resulting uncertainty resulted in further postponements and cancellations. Reality is that most inbound incentive programmes that have postponed will only hit our shores from Q3 and Q4 of 2022 onwards. Furthermore, any new incentive programme enquiries that may come through during the rest of Q4 2021 may only travel between six and eighteen months from now on.

As for the largest source markets, South Africa being removed from the US Red List has been very well received on both sides of the Atlantic. Once the UK removes South Africa from their Red List – pending mid-October 2021 – it should have further positive impact, with confidence returning for both the corporate decision makers and their delegates.

It all makes for murky forecasting, but in an ideal world and more positive decisions from global policy makers pending, we may look forward to a more robust 2022.

A recent study regarding the economic impact pre-Covid-19 showed solid proof that incentive travel yields the largest spend per person within the business events sector. The estimated total economic impact of incentives in South Africa, using the global business events multiplier, is estimated at some R1,5-billion.

The survey further shows that the direct impact or turnover of South African incentive related industry was more than R480-million in 2018 and R542-million in 2019.

The total impact of this turnover, based on a multiplier of the South African Tourism multiplier of 2,45 in 2018, was more than R1,2-billion and R1,3-billion in 2019.

Based on the above, incentive travel historically has a massive positive impact on the overall economy of South Africa. Confidence – not only in South Africa, but also globally – needs to be restored in order for incentives to return to their former state of well-being. In conclusion, it seems we are making progress in the right direction.

Contact

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