Durban's city centre has never been my favourite place; I always find my senses being thoroughly assaulted. Don't get me wrong, I grew up in Durban and still feel very precious about my home town, and I'll defend it to the summit of Tafelberg because I have always seen its potential - in my mind all it's ever needed is a fresh coat of paint.
KZN MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu sees that same potential, calling for the recently held Tourism Indaba to make Durban its home. And why not, really? In its 34 years, the conference has more often than not been held successfully in Durban. Mabuyakhulu says the province is ready "to make the necessary investment...to grow this trade show to the level where it rivals and outshines the best shows in the world."
The Cape Point Partnership's Brett Hendricks, however, sees the annual indaba as more of a roving event, commenting on Facebook: "Having a roving event that moves between major South African cities would definitely raise the bar. I'm hoping 2014 will have an added 'wow' factor."
'Wow!' is what we'll need if we're going to meet the national tourism strategy target of becoming one of the top 20 world tourist destinations by 2020, and we're on the right path - the number of tourists entering South Africa increased by 10.2% from 2011-2012, according to Stats SA.
Hosting large-scale events such as the Tourism Indaba means having to tick a lot more boxes. Clive Shelver, managing director at Film & Entertainment Underwriters, explains why it's important to have a proper risk management strategy in place.
If you're hosting an event, make sure you have it added to our recently introduced Biz Event Calendar as a Biz Featured Event. These events are featured in our daily and weekly newsletters, and are actively mentioned on our Facebook and Twitter timelines.
An event of note, the SAMAs were held this past weekend - congrats to the winners! Go paint the town red!
