COVER STORY
BEACON OF HOPE
After it was postponed in 2021, the much-anticipated Meetings Africa will go ahead as an in-person experience at the end of February. We hear from the show’s organisers, the South Africa National Convention Bureau (SANCB), on what to expect.
O
n 10 November 2021, an announcement was made that sent the business events and travel industry into overdrive – Meetings Africa, together with Africa’s Travel Indaba, would be making a comeback in 2022. With Meetings Africa being the ultimate showcase of the continent’s range of MICE destinations, products and services, the industry is anticipating an exceptional three-day
experience filled with networking and engaging, informative sessions. Delegates will arrive for the same show at the same venue but, after two years during which our entire way of doing business had to change, the experience will be quite different because, as Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, chief convention bureau officer at the SANCB says, “It has to be.”
She adds, “The conversations we will be having at Meetings Africa this year will be centred on unified strategies for the collective recovery of Africa’s business events industry. These are dialogues that we have been having among ourselves and within smaller focus groups but not as a whole, and I feel that – this year – Meetings Africa will play a stronger role than it ever has in bringing the industry together.”
ALL PROTOCOLS OBSERVED As the business events arm of South African Tourism, the SANCB will demonstrate to hosted buyers as well as Africa’s MICE industry stakeholders how to successfully run a large-scale conference and exhibition on African soil while ensuring all health and safety protocols are observed. South African Tourism’s mettle has already been tested and a standard set during the hybridformat Africa’s Travel and Tourism Summit (ATTS), which ran in September 2021 under the theme ‘Reawakening Africa’. Meetings Africa takes place on the back of ATTS at the same venue – the Sandton Convention Centre. Organisers have made it clear on the Meetings Africa website that the show will enforce a strict mask-wearing mandate and visitors and participants can expect to be screened and sanitised upon entry. Anyone who does not pass the screening will not be permitted access to the show. With capacities now at 1 000 people indoors, the number of physical attendees will need to be capped but the organisers are confident that exhibitors, visitors and hosted buyers will get to enjoy the full Meetings Africa experience. “Business events and travel were immediately and directly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. After the losses we have experienced as a result of the numerous
Meetings Africa is a representation of the unrelenting spirit of an African industry that forges ahead and opens its doors to the world.” Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, chief convention bureau officer at the SANCB
