Reserve your spot at Meetings Africa 2019: Media registrations now opened

MMeetings Africa 2019 will again see African associations and business events industry professionals partner to help transform our continent by showcasing Africa’s diverse services and products. The trade show will take place on 26 and 27 February 2019 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. It will be preceded by the Business Opportunity Networking Day (BONDay), dedicated solely to exhibitors on 25 February 2019.

Media registrations are now open for Meetings Africa 2019. Our media and exhibitor partners are key in growing our industry, and contributing to the success of the business events industry. The trade show promises to showcase the best services and products from conference venues; accommodation providers; local, provincial and national convention bureaus; destination marketing companies, professional conference organisers and business events support services from Africa, with plenty of interview opportunities from industry leaders from across the continent.

Our PR Team is dedicated to helping you source all the media information you need about the event including:

• Providing you with the best interview opportunities, not only with Meetings Africa spokespeople, but also with guest speakers, exhibitors and visitors.
• Keeping you up to date with the latest Meetings Africa news in the form of press releases and media alerts.
• Supplying images that you need to accompany articles from portraits of interviewees to images from the 2018 trade show.

Meetings Africa 2019, aptly themed “Shared Economies” aims to connect buyers and sellers in the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry with each other. The business event industry sustains over 200 000 jobs and the meetings sector alone contributing R115 billion to South Africa’s gross domestic product, the sector has been identified as key to the country’s and the continent’s tourism growth.

“Growth is what we are looking for, but there is a bigger context to growth, which needs to take into account factors such as sustainability and inclusive economic transformation that harnesses the power of small business operators in this sector as well as the traditional big convention products,” notes Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, Chief Convention Bureau Officer at South African Tourism.

Fifteen South African small businesses from across South Africa, through the Tourism Incentive Programme (TIP), will again exhibit at Meetings Africa 2019 at the Sustainability Village. They will receive bespoke training and insights on accessing the global MICE market and its shared economic opportunities.

Meetings Africa 2018 attracted almost 3 000 delegates who came to seal business deals, explore African products and forge new networks in the international meetings sphere. We had 306 business tourism exhibitors this year representing 21 African countries, with 65 of these exhibitors coming from outside South Africa. The show also attracted 167 business and trade media representatives from across the continent and globe and a total of 6 398 business meetings were held.

Ntshona said that following the success of Meetings Africa 2018 and the renewed political support for the sector, the future for business events and leisure tourism in the country, and indeed on the continent, is looking bright. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa articulated strong political support for the tourism sector, and this was backed up with an increased allocation for destination marketing in the 2018-2019 budget.

To register, visit: https://www.meetingsafrica.co.za/#media

For media enquiries, please contact:

Thandiwe Mathibela

(+27)11-895-3177

thandiwe@southafrica.net