The reputation that Cape Town has gained for its accommodation services and infrastructure often plays a decisive role when bidding for an international conference and in finally securing that conference for South Africa and…
The reputation that Cape Town has gained for its accommodation services and infrastructure often plays a decisive role when bidding for an international conference and in finally securing that conference for South Africa and Africa says Calvyn Gilfellan, acting Chief Executive of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, the official tourism destination marketing organisation for Cape Town and the Western Cape.
This is once again the case with two of the most recent bids won by Cape Town and the Western Cape: the European Hepato Pancreatico Biliary Association (EHPBA) biannual congress and the International Conference on Near Infrared Spectroscopy – both to take place in 2011. Together these two events are expected to attract 1 500 business tourists and an estimated R11,6 million to Cape Town and the Western Cape.
This follows the destination’s winning of another bid for 2011, where the city will host the Sixth Science Centre World Congress. This congress will bring 800 delegates from 40 countries and an estimated economic impact of more than R6 million to the destination.
“The business tourism market is becoming an increasingly important market for us in Cape Town and the Western Cape. While Cape Town Routes Unlimited’s Conventions and Events Bureau celebrates these bid victories with our tourism partners and the local associations who have also contributed significantly to driving the bidding process, we need to be very strategic around what we do with conference delegates once they are in our destination,” says Calvyn Gilfellan.
“We, and hereby I mean the entire tourism industry in our city and province, need to work together to make sure that their stay here is a life-enriching experience and that in their limited time here, they sample as much of the rich Western Cape tourism menu as possible. All this we do to ensure that they return later as leisure tourists, bringing their friends and family with them,” he says.
During the 2006/2007 financial year, 15 international association bids were secured for Cape Town and the Western Cape, and therefore South Africa, by the Cape Town and Western Cape Conventions and Events Bureau, working together with its partners. These will draw an estimated 32 300 business tourists and an economic impact of R342 million to the destination between now and 2014. A further fourteen bids were submitted during this period with the potential to bring an additional 16 290 tourists and a further R138 million to the destination up till 2021. The results of these bids are still undetermined.*
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
