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In a bid to boost tourism to 21 million by 2030, this is a perfect time to market SA as a conference destination
South Africa’s time-honoured tradition of dialogue, debate and consensus has served us well when it comes to settling our political and social differences, but it also offers opportunities for creating a highly attractive – and lucrative – tourism product.
Our president has set us the target of boosting South Africa’s visitor numbers from about 10 million now to 21 million by 2030.
This is a valid national goal that can align our people around a vision of economic development through tourism.
However, tourism has many components, one of which is the exciting possibility of conferencing.
When most of us think about tourism, we imagine foreign holidaymakers in floppy hats suntanning in Camps Bay in Cape Town, or being driven around a game reserve to spot the Big Five.
However, when one interrogates our visitor numbers, it becomes clear that these tourists – incredibly valuable visitors – make up a rather small portion of total visitor numbers.
The Stats SA Tourism and Migration figures for May indicate that, of the 1.2 million foreign arrivals crossing our borders, only 753 517 were overnight visitors – or tourists.
Many visitors are from African countries, with a large proportion of them making short stops to shop or visit friends and family.
They might be same-day visitors and, as such, they are not taking advantage of our country’s full tourism product, and the economic impact of their visits will not have the multiplier effect that traditional tourists bring.
One visitor segment that is lucrative, and ideally suited to South Africa, is conferencing.
The global business events industry is worth $1 trillion (R15.2 trillion) a year, and our country is uniquely positioned to increase our share of this dialogue and discussion – the fundamental point of conferences is integral to South Africa’s culture.
Debate and discussion is deeply embedded in the ancient traditions that still underpin Africa’s cultural practices.
Indaba, lekgotla, bosberaad, lobola negotiations – these are all common societal touchpoints, even in modern South Africa.
Dialogue, and our proficiency at it as a people, has many times brought us back from the brink of destruction, enabling us to find consensus and move forward in the spirit of ubuntu, shared values and a common mission.
This kind of consensus is the goal of most conferences.
On December 21 1991, the first plenary session of the Convention for a Democratic SA was called to order at the World Trade Centre in Kempton Park on Johannesburg’s East Rand, laying the foundation for our country’s transition to a modern democracy.
A year later, the talks were deadlocked. The country had descended into brutal violence, and it looked as if the dream of a free South Africa would go up in smoke.
Then the National Party and the ANC went away for a bosberaad to the D’Nyala Nature Reserve, 300km north of Johannesburg. There, friendships were made and the hope of an agreement was rekindled.
On March 2 1994, a stalemate was broken in Durban when the Inkatha Freedom Party emerged from talks with the ANC and agreed to participate in South Africa’s first democratic elections, which were scheduled for the following month.
In 2002 in Johannesburg, the Earth Summit – also known as the World Summit on Sustainable Development – agreed on 300 partnership initiatives to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
The examples are legion. The 12th Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries was held here in 1998; the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora was held here in 2016; and the 21st International Aids Conference was held in Durban in 2016.
Even further back in history, the Treaty of Vereeniging marked the end of the Second Boer War after delegates from South Africa and the UK, who had spent three years at war, met to resolve their issues and find peace in 1902.
Examples of iconic, seminal dialogue events that have taken place in South Africa are numerous.
Perhaps the most seminal of all was the Congress of the People, held to lay out the vision of the South African people, in Kliptown, Soweto, on June 25 and 26 in 1955.
This suggests a unique selling point for conferences in South Africa: Meet in South Africa – the home of dialogue.
Even businesspeople only distantly familiar with our history will be aware of our negotiated settlement, and how it ushered in democracy and a progressive Constitution.
Many will be curious to learn the methods used to find the consensus that led to these settlements. It may therefore be valuable to look into crafting a tourism offering around this insight.
To market such a product, we could showcase the various locations where famous agreements were made – everywhere from country lodges to urban convention centres.
These locations can be showcased, and tour guides can be trained to focus on the precise negotiation and discussion methods used to reach consensus after seemingly intractable disagreements.
Conferencing is a strong peg upon which to hang a tourism offering as it attracts delegates from successful global firms.
The professionals themselves will also have disposable income and will be keen to extend their stays for a South African holiday after the business conference.
This trend, dubbed “bleisure”, is significant. In 2017, an Expedia2 report noted that 60% of business trips were extended to include a holiday.
Allied industries such as accommodation and hospitality would obviously benefit, as would tourism operators.
Even team-building opportunities for delegates can be provided – everything from surfing and zip lining to whitewater rafting.
The rand exchange rate also gives our country an advantage in the global market in which we compete.
All of this must be part of a coherent, integrated tourism strategy that transcends sectors and government departments so that we are united by a vision to grow tourism in service of the developmental state.
Fighting poverty, unemployment and inequality remain our national priorities, and tourism has an integral role to play in combatting these.
Business tourism can be a key component of this. And where better to host your business conference than here, the home of ubuntu? The place where dialogue saves the day.
Mokoena is CEO of Ogilvy SA
