Of the 20 000 people who attended the Afropunk arts festival in Johannesburg on December 30 and 31 last year, 3 000 were international travellers who visited South Africa for the primary purpose of attending the festival.
This, says Gauteng Economic Development MEC, Lebogang Maile, illustrates the economic impact that major events can have on a host nation.
“The thousands of international travellers who visited Johannesburg did not just stay for the two days of the festival, but were here for at least five days, doing other things in the city and province – and that shows that we must not underestimate the economic impact of events like this,” he said.
Speaking at a media briefing reflecting on the success of the Johannesburg leg of this major international festival, Maile said he was confident that the next Afropunk festival – which will take place later this year – would attract even more international tourists to South Africa. “The international visitors who attended the festival last year will be the ambassadors to those interested in attending this year – and they will be ‘good news’ ambassadors because the event was a huge success and was incident free. So we expect more international visitors next time around,” he said.
The event took place at Constitution Hill, a National Heritage Site and home to South Africa’s Constitutional Court. It takes place in New York, Atlanta, Paris, London and now Johannesburg, and is an event that seeks to celebrate multiculturalism and diversity by encouraging attendees to flaunt their unique style, experience diverse food, admire thoughtful art pieces and celebrate various cultures.
Live music is also performed by local and international artists at the festival.
Afropunk founder, Matthew Morgan, says the event was brought to Johannesburg to position the city as a vibrant place for lifestyle and events. “We want to change the narrative that only bad things happen here, or that it’s simply a transition place for people on their way to safari,” he said.
Gauteng will host the Afropunk Festival over New Year’s Eve for the next five years, and the provincial government will inject money into the each event. “As to how much we will inject, this will be announced in due course,” Maile told Tourism Update.
Gauteng would continue to bid for, and host,,more large-scale events like Afropunk, Maile concluded.
