Deputy Minister of Tourism opens Meetings Africa

"Meetings Africa has established itself as the most valuable and exciting business events trade show on the African continent. It is the ideal platform to do business as well as to take our business events hosting status as a continent to the next level of prominence and success," the Deputy Minister said.

The year 2014 is also significant because on 27 April, South Africans will celebrate two decades of freedom and democracy, and two exciting decades it has been. In 1994, the first year of the South African democracy, the country hosted 12 international association conferences - conferences that had met the International Congress and Convention Association's (ICCA) ranking criteria.

These 12 conferences brought a total of 5950 people to South African shores. By 2012, the country had grown that number to 97 ICCA-recognised meetings, which attracted 52 587 delegates to the country, injecting an estimated R663 million into the South African economy. According to ICCA, South Africa has hosted 1290 international association conferences that met their criteria since 1994.

Developing the country's intellectual capital

According to Deputy Minister Xasa: "Business events do more than just contribute to the economy. Business events create a platform to develop the country's intellectual capital and showcase fields and sectors where South Africa demonstrates global leadership that money cannot buy.

The FIFA World Cup, which we hosted in 2010, brought over 300 000 visitors to South Africa during the tournament, and it proved an excellent catalyst for improvements in infrastructure. Through the 2010 FIFA World Cup, we also increased our connectivity, improved our major roads and increased the number of hotel offerings, thus also increasing diversity for hosting meetings and conferences in our country. This major sporting event left a lasting legacy for the leisure tourism and business events industries."

The theme for Meetings Africa 2014 is "Advancing Africa Together". As a result, this year's event will be graced by a strong contingent of African exhibitors, buyers and media coming from countries as varied as Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Zimbabwe.

"We are truly the pan-African platform for the business events industry. Meetings Africa is the one trade show where our whole continent can come to network, build relationships and partnerships, and meet with premier buyers from numerous sectors and dozens of countries and markets around the world," the Deputy Minister continued. "While exceptional growth has already been achieved, South Africa has only just begun to unlock the potential of the sector and is working to grow the size of the business events industry by at least 50% between now and 2020."

The Deputy Minister concluded: "We have the infrastructure and the expertise. We have an enabling environment. We know where we want to go in growing this industry. Most importantly, our government is committed to taking the sector forward."