RESEARCH
A REPORT FOR AFRICA, BY AFRICA Niche Partners, a research and advisory service provider, recently launched the 2021 African Perspectives on the MICE Industry Report in association with Meetings. We hear from the team on its ambitious plans.
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esearch on the African Perspectives on the MICE Industry Report began a year ago. This is being driven by Niche Partners – a leading research house with a team passionate about research and data, specifically within the MICE industry. “The research process was not the easiest journey, as Africa is unfortunately not strong on data collection; however, we’ve collaborated with various partners across the continent and the results made all our efforts worth it,” says Londi Khumalo, managing director at Niche Partners. Although the report does not cover all African countries due to limited data collection in the MICE industry, this is the most comprehensive report available for the sector. It covers 16 MICE-active African countries, which were narrowed down by making use of existing international meetings industry reports and data, and supplemented with further research. “We are extremely proud of not only the research we have done but the potential revenue and growth possible for the continent, as the insights will help the industry plan for African growth,” says Londi.
KEY FINDINGS The launch highlighted key findings across Africa’s broader economic forecasts and source markets related to tourism. The African Perspectives Report takes into consideration the top GDP-generating sectors of each country, and the potential for MICE opportunities in these sectors, as well as primary
survey data on leading client and supplier trends. Four major findings shared during the launch were:
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Africa’s MICE industry is largely still in a nascent stage Niche Partners found that 68.8% of the African MICE market is in a nascent stage. Niche Partners has developed a maturity indicator that considers various factors including the formalisation of the supplier industry in a country, the existence of a MICE sector country strategy, the government prioritisations expressed as a strategy for the MICE sector, and the presence of an active convention bureau in each region. The research found that most of Africa still lacks the necessary structure and prioritisation of the establishment of a MICE industry, with many countries focused on leisure tourism and other sectors. On the other end of the spectrum, only 12.5% of the researched countries fit into the managed supplier category. These are countries that have met the requirements of having a formalised supplier industry, existing MICE country strategies, together with active convention bureaus established for a period longer than five years. “It was found that new convention bureaus are being established across the continent but do not yet have performance data that could be used. It was therefore decided that the cut-off of five years enables us to look at past performance and establish whether strategies were implemented,” says the team at Niche Partners in its analysis.
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Only 31% of the African countries have existing MICE sector and/or African strategies Niche Partners’ research shows that many ministries of tourism across the continent are aware of the MICE sector’s possible
18 • MEETINGS l MAY/JUNE 2021
economic contributions but only 31% of the researched countries have existing strategies with proof points of implementation such as convention centres, bid notifications and marketing positioning towards the business events market. It appears that some African countries lack the understanding and necessary skills to formalise their country strategies. In addition, a component of Niche Partners’ maturity indicator is the priority of an African strategy. This indicator reflects the countries that have an existing African MICE strategy with the prioritisation of intracontinental meetings, incentives, conferences or exhibitions that are rotated at a country level. Unfortunately, none of the countries researched fit this criterion, representing an unexplored opportunity with massive potential for Africa’s MICE industry.
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Economic growth in certain countries is promising The report extrapolates the macroeconomic implications of global country competitiveness and, in particular, the growth of the MICE industry. It highlights that from the MICE-researched countries, 44% are considered fast-growing economies, with 25% currently in recession. The in-depth SWOT analysis of each country enables the industry to further consider the political and social factors that may enhance or inhibit a MICE
Is there a MICE strategy? YES NO
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