South African Industry Markets Itself
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 3/21/2005
The South African Meetings Industry Federation, formed last September to promote the country's meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition industry, wants to increase South Africa's profile as a business tourism destination.
With that in mind, officials are hoping to streamline the South African business tourism industry's marketing efforts. Members plan to contact their international counterparts to get South Africa on their agendas, said Carol Weaving, managing director of event organizer South Africa RAI. Weaving also chairs the Exhibition Assn. of South Africa and is a committee member of the new federation and the Southern African Assn. for the Conference Industry.
EXSA and SAACI are members of the federation, as are South African Tourism's Natl. Convention Bureau, the Society of Incentive and Travel Executives, the Technical Production Services Assn., the Federated Hospitality Assn. of South Africa and the Intl. Special Events Society.
The federation last month agreed to look into giving Tourism Marketing South Africa funds to bid for new events and provide bidding packets with information on venues and locations. In addition, a subcommittee was formed to create an annual procurement guide for suppliers.
SAMIF is chaired by Rick Taylor, CEO of the Natl. Convention Bureau. Taylor is analyzing South African bids to evaluate how much of the region's meetings business has been won or lost in the past. Taylor said he expects to see results from the initiatives within the next six months.
