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Wander the World: Cape Town as a conference travel destination · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The conversation turns to travel, and it is time for
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: our feature, Wonder the World. Most of our recent conversations
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: in this slot have been focused on leisure travel. Today, though,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about a different aspect of our
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: tourism industry and how it relates to Cape Town, and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: that is travel relating to business environments, to conferences and
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: events and the like. Just a week or so ago,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: we heard that Cape Town had won two major awards
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: at the Regional World Travel Awards. They took the category
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: for Africa's leading city destination and Africa's leading meetings and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: conference destination. And those two are actually quite intricately linked
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: to one another and have a knock-on impact on each other.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: And I thought today we would take some time to
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: talk about the meetings and conference term aspect of our
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: city and the fact that that represents a significant portion
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: of our incoming visitors.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: But just how significant? What do the numbers look like?
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: What is the knock-on impact on other aspects of our
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: tourism industry and the jobs that it supports? To help
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: us understand Cape Town's status as a conference and business
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: travel destination, it's a huge pleasure to welcome in studio
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Adrian Farid, who's the head of convention bureau for WESGRO.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And Adrian, thanks so much for joining us in studio today.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Pleasure to have you here.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Hi, Pepe. Lovely to meet you.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: You too.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Obviously, a feather in the cap of Cape Town to
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: win both of these awards and I think significant to
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: win them together. And I should add that we now
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: go on to compete against the other regional winners in
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the grand final later this year. But I mean, we
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: already have a number of such feathers in our cap,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: particularly for our business tourism. We've been winning awards and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: ranking high on lists for a number of years already,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: haven't we?
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we are in a fortunate position that,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: of course, Cape Town and the broader Western Cape is
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: winning a lot of awards for various things. It helps
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: and it strengthens our positioning when we're looking at the
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: global landscape. Not just in Africa. We are consistently ranked
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: within the African continent based on conventions, leisure experiences, etc.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: But it's for more importance when we're looking into the
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: global landscape. These awards do play a profiling role where
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: we can leverage them. We can tell the world that
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: we are an award winning. We have capacity. We have strength.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: And that is what these kind of awards really mean
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: when you really start unpacking why somebody should win.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and what it means to us. It's more than
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: just saying, oh, isn't that nice? We're doing well.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think awards to a certain
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: degree are useless if they are not being used as
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: part of your marketing positioning.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Then it's just black on the wall.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: You know, Adrian, it strikes me that perhaps quite a
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: number of people listening don't know much about the way
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: we market the city as a conference destination. They know
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: we've got a wonderful convention center and we'll talk a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: little bit in a minute about what that represents. But
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Do we go out pitching to host events or do
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: events come to us saying we need a venue that
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: can take X thousand people on these dates next year?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Can you host us? How does it actually work?
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: So the business events landscape is really positioned in kind
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: of like I would say probably four major pillars.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: The one is association congresses. So a lot of times
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: when you drive past the city, you see these billboards
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: of the World Congress on psychology and et cetera and
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: the like. Those are something that we would identify as leads.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: So on one level, we would identify and we will
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: then go out into market. This happens. Maybe people will
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: find this interesting, but we work around 10 years ahead. Wow.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: So we're already working in the 2030s. So the stuff
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: that is coming into the city now, we've already done
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: eight to 10 years ago. So it is an incredibly
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: long lead time. Those we can unpack because they've got
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: certain other benefits as well. But that is the association
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: kind of conferencing landscape. That is what most people would
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: generally think of people sitting in a room. The exhibition landscape,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: that is really very important to the city because it's
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: an annual event. Think of mining in Davos, African Energy Week,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: even things like Cape Jazz or those type of kind
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: of annual events that really become anchors. Those are often
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: people kind of like coming to us. They are owned
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: by large companies and they put it together. But we also,
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: from our perspective, are looking really about how can we
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: strengthen our sectoral development by identifying which events we should
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: be bringing into the city that will really stimulate the economy.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Not that we will say no to most business, but
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: not all business is the same. Some would really feed
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: the economy. And I think that is really what we
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: within Westcrow, within the economic agency, really concentrate. That really
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: makes us excited. When we can attract something that not
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: just only will grow the knowledge economy or give people
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: the opportunity to experience the city, but that it really
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: creates a way that we are mobilizing the economy. And
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: I think that's really important.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Can you give us a couple of examples, Andre?
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think specifically if we're looking at the
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: knowledge economy, not only what it would mean in terms
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: of how it, stimulates research, and you can look at
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: anything currently in-house at CTICC, the World Congress on Public Health. Now,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: if you just look at that, that is incredibly relevant
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: to South Africa, but it's a very heavily policy-orientated conference.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: That is where activists come together. It is where academia
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: comes together. That is also in an environment that is
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: increasingly under a lot of pressure for funding, this is
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: the platform where you are actually engaging around that. An
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: interesting conference that's coming up in November is One Young World,
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: which is one of the world's leading youth activism, innovation,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: entrepreneurial conferences. Now, Just the kind of like leverage that
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: the city will get, not only just in youth development,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: but also then the extended. And you can extend that
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: to any number of things. Obviously, the things like mining
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: in Daba is a massive business platform. They do a
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: lot of work on the floor, a lot of deals.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: The upcoming Africa Energy Week, all of those are web
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Business deals are being done. And I think that is
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: really where you get people in the room. People always
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: say it's not necessarily always what the speaker is saying.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: It is what's happening in the corridors. And, you know,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: that is still the value of conferencing.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm hearing from you the networking opportunities of
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: having access to these thought leaders in our city and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: being able to send our experts to go in and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: meet them face to face is priceless.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: That's something I hadn't thought of.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: You know, you think of the knock on impact on
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: all these thousands of people who need a place to stay,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: a place to eat each night online. you know, and
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: all the services they'll be using, the taxis and, you know,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the drivers they'll be supporting. But I'm hearing you loud
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: and clear, Adrian. The opportunity of having these global thought
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: leaders come to our city and give access to them,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: to our people, is significant. Just want to say for
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: anybody who's coming in halfway through this conversation that my
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: guest in studio is Adrian Farid, Head of Convention Bureau
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: for WestGrow, talking to us about the importance of business
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: tourism and conference and events-driven tourism today. to the city
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: of Cape Town. So often we talk about the bonus
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: of the incoming leisure tourists and in fact we've received
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: a voice note from Ryan which demonstrates quite well the
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: crossover between the two. Ryan sent this in a little
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: bit earlier in the show and I've been keeping it
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: to play out now.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Let's take a quick listen.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: Hey Pippo, Garden Business and Leisure Travel. I went on
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: a run on the beach the other day and met
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: this family and I love taking photos for families with
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: 10 months of background and asked them how they got here.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: So she said she was at a conference like a
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: month ago and just loved Cape Town so much, got
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: home and booked a family holiday for the whole family
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: to spend two weeks in Cape Town because she said
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: it was the most incredible place. And so, yeah, so
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: her business trips caused her to book a family holiday
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: and their family of four came to Cape Town and
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: absolutely loved it during winter. What a vibe.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Ryan, I wish you could see Adrian's face right now
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: and the size of the smile on his face because
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: that happens more often than we know, doesn't it, Adrian?
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: It actually is not the exception. It is often the
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: biggest legacy of hosting conferences and why it is so important.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Not only are people staying longer, they're adding a day in,
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: pre or post, and it is a bucket list destination.
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  Speaker 3: So for a lot of delegates, it will be the
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: first time they're visiting Africa, you know, and what that means.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: But we have a lot of conferencing delegates who come
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: back with their families. And that happens actually, as I said,
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: more often than you think. An important thing that Ryan
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: also pointed out is the benefit of conferencing for Cape
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Town is that it flattens seasonality.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: The winter flow season.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: That most of our world congresses and a lot of
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: our events are actually not happening in our summer season,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: which makes this a very powerful driver for this particular sector. Yeah,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: and I mean, even if we can have a couple
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: of rain days in Cape Town, business is still being
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: done in the venue. Yeah.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Adrienne, we've talked about the association congresses and the exhibitions market.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: You did say there were four pillars. Anything else you
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: want to mention there?
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so corporate meetings. That is the third pillar in
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: that mix. Corporate meetings to a large degree is a
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: little bit reactive into what happens in the geopolitical landscape.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: It depends on if corporate businesses' budgets get cut and
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: all of that.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: You know, and it depends a little bit. It goes
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: a little bit in cycles, but it is an important
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: part of Cape Town's business. It's also a very important
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: part of the domestic conferencing business because a lot of
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: our focus and discussion will be on the international business,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: which of course it represents a lot of additional business
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: coming into the country. But at the same time, even
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: on a domestic level, corporate meetings is very big business.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: And then lastly, the fourth pillar is incentive travel. which
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: some people get a little bit confused because it is
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: a lot like leisure travel, but it is paid for
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: by a corporate. So it is rewarding the top motor
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: car salespeople globally to come on a holiday. But ultimately,
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: it is part of the business events. That is really
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: important business for Cape Town.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Is it still really important?
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Because you would think in the age of everyone tightening
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: belts and the global economy being what it's in, that
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: that kind of travel benefit would be curtailed.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, no. It's still a very big benefit. I mean,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: sometimes in the incentive space, as budgets become tighter, the
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: budgets on individual holidays become tighter. So the reward on
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: the flip side becomes more valuable. Right. So you can
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: look at it in two ways. And also specifically incentive travel.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: When we're looking at the emerging markets, India, China is
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: incredibly big incentive markets, which is an opportunity for the city.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: Because that is where we're looking for growth, specifically in
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: this sector.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, South America, Brazil, huge incentive markets.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm fascinated to hear that that is still a
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: big thing. Many, many years ago and a lifetime ago,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I used to do speech writing for Cape Town Roots
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Unlimited as it was back then. And I remember the
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: incentive travel being one of the big growth strategies for
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: the city. So I'm delighted to hear that that incentive
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: is obviously, that strategy has obviously borne fruit and continues
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: to deliver.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Incentive travel also is very valuable for regional growth because
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: it has got the ability to bring people into the regions.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: It is also... Probably one of the pillars that really
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: celebrates culture and really celebrates people. So it really is
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: a valuable pillar in the mix.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Adrian, look, having a beautiful state of the art convention
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: centre obviously is essential to this whole story. And a
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: couple of people are asking the same thing. They have
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: seen headlines that the city of Cape Town is thinking
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: of selling its share in the CTICC and are asking
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: what is the knock on impact of that going to be?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Do you want to speak a little bit to the
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: future of the CTICC, particularly given what you've told us,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: that you are already making bookings for the 2030s?
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'm not representing the CTIC, so it
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: cannot be necessarily an official point of view, but it
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: will not have any impact. The CTIC is a profit-making business.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: Unlike that, yes, of course, the city has got ownership
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: in it and the province got ownership in it, but
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: ultimately it is not a subsidized business. Unlike some of
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: our other cities in South Africa that is heavily subsidized,
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: the CTIC is a profit-making business. standalone business. And that
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: in itself, whatever format that new ownership can look at,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: the local partners will not do anything that will jeopardize
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: the success. There's just too much emphasis on the CTSE specifically,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: but also as the city, it's a massive portion of
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: the growth strategy. If anything, it might unlock opportunity.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Interesting.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Okay. Okay.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: What is the capacity at the moment? I mean, we've
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: had expansions over the years.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I've kind of lost track of what's the biggest conference
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: we could potentially hold here in terms of numbers of delegates.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, if you look at mining in Daba, we've got
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: about 30,000 people that move through that. If you're looking
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: for more traditional conference, the largest, we've just hosted... World
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: Congress on Gynecology, that was around 8,000 delegates. We've hosted
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: World Diabetes Conference for 12,500 delegates. But the city's sweet spot,
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: and I think it's really important to note that bigger
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: is not always better for various reasons. One is Cape
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: Town's sweet spot where we really shine as a conferencing
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: destination is about between the 2,000 and 5,000 delegates. We
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: have the air capacity to bring people in. We've got
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: enough room at capacity without it really impacting the broader.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: When you're looking at large events, the logistics for the
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: city needs to be activated and it becomes sometimes quite complicated.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: But of course, I mean, those opportunities we will go after.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: We've got to take them and rise to the occasion. Yeah.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: But I think Cape Town specifically is the sweet spot
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: is the 2000s. I think we do it very well.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: But yeah, so....
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: A question from Vicky, wondering why is the mining in
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Darbar held when it is in the summer months when
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: accommodation is at such a premium?
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is, to be quite honest. It is something
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: we would love to change, but it is also sitting
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: within the global calendar. The delegates and the attendees are actually,
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: you have to work. And this is actually why a
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: lot of conferences happening in our winter season is because
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Of the global calendar.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Of where these delegates need to go to next. To
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: change something like that particular date is a very complicated
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: long term.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: But yes, if we could change it, we would.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: And put it into the middle of winter, it would
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: be so much easier.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: It would make our lives a lot easier. But it's
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: a very, very high demand period.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Just think again, though, about that.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're talking about 8000 people at the gynecology conference,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: 12000 people at the diabetes conference. That's 8000 hotel rooms,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: 8000 restaurant dinners every night of the conference. And as
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: you said, if there's a day or two of leisure
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: tourism tagged on the end, it's wine tastings, it's trips
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: up the cable car. I mean. Everybody benefits if we
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: are able to continue showcasing the city as a desirable
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: business destination. The knock on impact into all other aspects
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: of the tourism sector is a positive one. Adrian, it's
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: been fascinating hearing the background. Thank you so much for
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: explaining how it all works, because it's a sort of
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: a portion of the tourism market we don't get a
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: lot of oversight of.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: As the public. So thank you so much for your
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: time this afternoon.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: It's an absolute pleasure.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: A great pleasure to have you with us. Adrian Farid Fromways,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Head of Convention Bureau there. And congratulations to everybody involved
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: in helping Cape Town achieve that award at the World
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Travel Awards, both the Africa's leading city destination and the
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: award as Africa's leading meetings and conference destination. The grand
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: final where the regional winners will compete for the overall
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: title is later this year.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: So we'll keep you posted on that outcome.