What is needed to advance AFRICA’S CONVENTION CENTRES?

According to Dr Geoffrey Manyara, an economic affairs officer in charge of tourism for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African continent attracts a meagre 1% of international business events worldwide. This stark fact was discussed at the inaugural AIPC Africa Summit.

Sven Bossu, CEO of the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC), says this is a challenge for the convention centres on the continent and needs to be tackled; “Everybody recognises that business events are crucial for trade, innovation and collaboration, and that the impact on the local community is immense – not only in economic terms.”

The AIPC Africa Summit was essentially launched for this purpose.

Professionalising The Sector

Taubie Motlhabane, CEO of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) and AIPC board member, supported Sven to make the event a reality. She says, “A lot of questions came up during the AIPC Africa Summit that revealed a knowledge gap in terms of best practices for operational efficiency in convention centre management. It became clear that more education and operational development is needed for our convention centres.”

She adds that if operating standards are improved, clients will have more confidence that they will receive high-quality event delivery, which will make Africa extremely competitive at attracting more business events and meetings.

Sven agrees, adding that venues need to be recognised for these standards through audits, giving them greater credibility.

One hurdle is that – despite educational opportunities being available, with AIPC itself offering several – many of these events and courses are held overseas and African convention centres don’t necessarily have the funding to attend.

“The cost of the flights, visas, accommodation and the actual programme can result in these opportunities and their benefits being inaccessible to many,” says Taubie.

This last point is why AIPC created an African Summit – “We flipped it round and brought AIPC to Africa,” says Sven. And it’s also why the South Africa National Convention Bureau partnered with AIPC and, with their funding, the Summit could be made available for free, while being hosted at the Meetings Africa 2023 BONDay on 27 February where many convention centres were already in attendance.

Funding For Growth

A lack of funding creates several other challenges for African convention centres. Kenya’s Patricia Ondeng, acting CEO of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), highlights this as a constraint given the pressure to adopt new technologies (which can become obsolete quickly) and to find more sustainable operating solutions such as green energy, both of which tend to be expensive investments – yet which are essential to making convention centres more competitive.

Lindiwe Rakharebe, CEO of the Durban ICC, agrees that convention centre funding needs to be prioritised, “Business events can be categorised as business investments that can have a significant impact on economic growth and job creation for a country. Therefore, funding is a crucial component for the development of African conference centres, particularly when competing with larger, more established centres to attract big events. Subvention funding to attract business events is an important element for some regions that governments need to consider.”

Other African Challenges

Another challenge Patricia notes is succession planning. “There is not enough capacity in the hospitality sector in terms of human resources at the convention centres. The new generation are not taking up hospitality training, so the old generation have few people to handover to,” she says.

A lack of skilled staff and talent due to the pandemic has no doubt exacerbated this.

Lindiwe also draws attention to poor infrastructure (including energy, road and rail transportation, and water) and security concerns in Africa as deterrents for potential clients seeking a host destination, while poor marketing and promotion could fail to attract the right clients.

An interesting point made by Joanne MwangiYelbert, chairperson of Kenya Tourism Board, during the Meetings Africa 2023 BONDay educational sessions, is that internationally people view Africa as one destination. For this reason, she argues that the African MICE sector should be selling Africa.

This tendency to group Africa into a single homogeneous entity is probably why convention centres have shifted their marketing strategies, with Patricia observing, “The marketing trends are changing. Convention centres are doing destination marketing as opposed to MICE and convention centre marketing.”

The Key African Opportunities

“The offer of venues in Africa is almost as diverse as the cultures, languages and landscapes. In that sense, it is possible for any organiser to find the venue that best meets the different objectives of the event,” says Sven.

He believes this is a huge opportunity, explaining, “In times when organisers are trying to create unique experiences in order to attract delegates, it is even more important to stress the diversity of the continent. What can be offered in Johannesburg in terms of experiences is fundamentally different from what is happening in Morocco.

“However, I also believe that it is up to venues and convention bureaus to do a better job of truly understanding the objectives of the organisers and coming up with an offer in line with these. Organisers are looking for partners, not for service providers.”

He adds, “The other unique opportunity sits with the growth potential of Africa in terms of intracontinental trade, which is unparalleled and for which events can work as a platform and catalyst.”

Lindiwe agrees that the continent’s unique and diverse cultures are a huge asset, and that the economic growth and emerging markets in many countries present valuable investment opportunities. She suggests that African conference centres form collaborative partnerships with other centres, as well as with local businesses and organisations, to help improve marketing efforts and increase awareness of what the centres and their destinations have to offer.

AFRICA’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE SECTOR

“I do believe the global community can learn a lot from the African venues when it comes to drive, service delivery and making people truly feel welcome. Personally, I was impressed by the positive energy of the people I met during my first-ever visit to South-Africa, despite some of the challenges faced – especially energy,” says Sven.

He believes the AIPC Africa Summit was a success, with approximately 50 participants and robust discussions about the some of the key challenges the sector faces, including resources, sustainability and energy. “It truly felt like an exchange of knowledge and best practices, both between AIPC and the participants, and between the participants themselves,” he adds.

AIPC’S OFFERING

AIPC offers various benefits to its members, which speak directly to the issues raised during its inaugural Africa Summit. These are:

• AIPC Quality Standards: AIPC’s internationally recognised audit is a trusted indicator of the quality delivered by venues.

• AIPC educational offering: educational opportunities are created through the AIPC academy as well as courses, summits and an annual conference.

• A global member network: the AIPC community allows the exchange of information and best practices, on both a global and local scale.

To find out more, visit aipc.org/education.