Tag Archive for: International Congress and Convention Association

Andrew Stegmann

Cape Town Brings In Over $112 Million In Six Years As Africa’s Best Business Tourism Destination

Cape Town has been named the best business tourism destination on the African continent once again, a ranking produced by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) revealed.

The Mother City is now considered the 39th best business tourism hub in the world, having improved last year’s ranking by 15 spots.

The Cape Town and the Western Cape Convention Bureau, part of Wesgro, is the major entity trusted to promote the Western Cape province and Cape Town in particular, among meeting, incentive, conference and event planners as a premier business tourism destination.

In the last financial year, the Bureau secured 33 new bids with an estimated attendance of 28,000 delegates and an estimated economic impact of around $31.7 million, while conferences over the past six years have had an estimated economic impact of more than $112 million, according to BizCommunity.

For this reason, these international association meetings have been and continue to be a fundamental economic contributor and job creator for South Africa.

With the number of international association meetings doubling every decade, according to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) report, Cape Town’s continued growth on the list shows the importance of Africa and South Africa in particular for business tourism.

With 62 international association meetings held in Cape Town during 2016, and a further 12 in nearby Stellenbosch – which would not count towards Cape Town’s tally, the country’s legislative capital compares favorably with other destinations in the top 40.

Paris was ranked first for 2016, with 196 international association meetings hosted in the French capital, while Rome at 20th on the ranking held 96 international conferences, a mere 34 more than Cape Town.

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