MICE travel holds huge potential for African destinations but getting it right means acknowledging that business travellers aren’t the same as leisure tourists.
A panel discussion during the recent WTM Africa in Cape Town highlighted some key takeaways for destinations and operators to bear in mind.
Trade drives travel
Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, former Chief Convention Bureau Officer at the South African National Convention Bureau, said fast-growing business travel destinations understand that trade and travel are deeply linked.
She said successful business tourism destinations are those that have identified their economic development sectors and where governments invest in these key areas. Destinations must identify the sectors they want to attract and ensure the right infrastructure and networking opportunities are in place.
Citing the automobile industry as an example, she said: “What are the opportunities when those people come? They are coming to see what is happening in that country – not for elephants and lions. You need to sell the opportunity to them.”
The infrastructure gap
Guy Stehlik, CEO and Founder of BON Hotels, said there is a tendency in Africa to get the balance wrong when it comes to MICE facilities.
“There are places with a 3 000-seater conference centre and 80-room hotel. If you want to grow MICE, the facilities must match. Even in mature markets like South Africa, this remains a challenge.”
Tes Proos, President of the African chapter of the Society of Incentive Travel Excellence, agreed, adding that there’s huge interest in growing MICE but this requires capacity and expertise.
Rethinking incentives
While the meetings, conferences and exhibitions part of MICE travel is mostly well understood, incentive travel remains a grey area.
Glenton de Kock, CEO of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry, said: “Incentive is not understood. People see it as a top-end holiday.”
Proos agreed, adding that “incentives are not holidays – everything you do has serious economic impact.”
Serving this market, she said, means recognising that “incentive clients don’t want a brochure experience” and often delivering for this market means “creating an experience that doesn’t currently exist”.
Boring is unforgivable
Kotze-Nhlapo said, while business travellers are a “captive audience” who have little say in where they travel to, creating an experience is key to ensuring that they come back as leisure tourists.
Stehlik said the challenge for meeting and convention operators is to borrow from incentive travel and create differentiated experiences rather than delivering “Joe Average, undifferentiated, boring experiences”.
He said: “It’s unforgivable to have those ubiquitous, boring conference experiences.”
