Statement by the City’s Mayoral Committe Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, Alderman James Vos
Cape Town is one of the best-value business tourism and travel destinations for international visitors. Over the last year the city hosted 51 international association meetings, attracting over 26 000 delegates. The 30 bids secured over this last year has an estimated economic impact of more than R1.2 billion.
It was a great pleasure to speak at the 4th Annual Tourism, Hotel Investment and Networking Conference (THINC) this morning.
My mission and vision for my directorate is to ensure we provide the environment that supports growth, so that we can attract investment which will lead to more jobs for the people of Cape Town.
Wesgro, one of the City funded Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), specifically focuses on promoting the City of Cape Town as the destination of choice for meetings, incentive travel offered by international businesses, conferences and events (MICE).
I am proud of the successes achieved by the Bureau and I am thrilled to confirm that our City will play host to many more MICE events in the coming year, especially the World Ophthalmology, Spaceops and the HIV Research for Prevention Conferences. These conventions will bring in almost 17 000 delegates with yet more positive knock-on benefits for our city.
Through the Delegate Boosting Programme, we encourage delegates to stay longer, experience our amazing city and, of course, spend lots of money to ensure that we get the most benefit for Capetonians.
My next step is to ensure that the Delegate Boosting Programme partners with Cape Town Tourism to ensure that visitors are able to take advantage of what Cape Town has on offer, and to visit all corners of our great city. One great example of an exciting tourism offer is the new Khayelitsha Curated Routes Experience.
According to ICCA Africa Chapter, the City of Cape Town is the top destination in Africa for meetings and conferences. This is a great achievement and I look forward to the year ahead and the many benefits the thousands of delegates to these meetings, conventions and conferences will bring to Cape Town.
Source: City Of Cape Town