In a bid to grow business tourism and Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing and Exhibitions (MICE) across Africa, industry professional and public-sector tourism officials will be attending a three-day Africa Business Tourism and Mice Masterclass in Johannesburg from June 13-15.
It is an innovative Continuing Professional Development initiative being convened by key Africa Tourism Partners, with the support of key industry stakeholders, including Grant Thornton, the South African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI), the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and Voyage Afriq.
The gathering is a blueprint designed to help move African tourism economies’ focus away from over-reliance on leisure to business tourism and MICE.
“Hosting business events has to be one of the focal points of transformation in the tourism sector across Africa,” says Kwakye Donkor, CEO of Africa Tourism Partners. “It means direct tourism contribution to our economies through optimisation of the entire tourism value chain. Therefore, tourism leaders and policy makers in Africa have to start paying attention to this sub sector, if we are serious about increasing tourism’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in our respective countries.”
The partnership between conveners and supporting partners aims to educate and inspire the meetings and event industry in Africa, and to further the missions of African countries, particularly in relation to driving innovation and creativity in growing tourist arrivals.
Christelle Grohmann, Director of Grant Thornton, notes that the Masterclass offers attendees from private and public sectors the opportunity to upskill themselves while learning more about global trends and best practices from experts associated with the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), SACCI and SITE. “We’re really enthused by this initiative as it will help all stakeholders to share fresh perspectives on Business Tourism and MICE across Africa,” says Grohmann.
Speakers include the following industry experts: Rudi van der Vyver, CEO of SAACI; Esmare Steinhofel, Regional Director, Africa ICCA Africa Office; Jeffers Mariku, President of Society of Association of Executives (AfSAE), Kenya; Prof Adesoji Adesugba, Vice President of Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria; Nomasonto Ndlovu, CEO, Limpopo Tourism Agency; Miller Matola, CEO of Millvest and former CEO of Brand South Africa; Tes Proos from Crystal Events, Africa and immediate Past President of SITE, Southern Africa, and Emeritus Professor Ernie Heath, University of Pretoria. More expert faculty members will be unveiled in due course.
To register, contact Thembi Mthembu at thembi@africatourismpartners.com or +27 82 806 6251, alternatively click here.
Article has been amdended since first published.
