Meetings Africa Daily News Day 1

DELEGATES attending this year’s exhibition have an exciting new line up to look forward to, as Africa’s biggest business tourism show gets underway at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.

MEETINGS Africa, which last year won the best show in its category at the Event Association of South-ern Africa (EXSA) Awards, contin-

ues to be an outstanding platform to develop and grow South Africa’s business tourism indus-try and this year’s show offers a number of new features and events., .

Meetings Africa kicked off over the week-end with a very successful Lifestyle Golf and Safari Weekend at the renowned Legend

Golf and Safari Resort at the Entabeni Conser-vancy in Limpopo. This new edition to the pro-gramme proved an excellent opportunity for South Africa to showcase its excellent leisure tourism offering that complements its world-class business tourism infrastructure.

Another event to look forward to at Meet-ings Africa 2012 is the extended Association Lekgotla. Spread over two days instead of one, it will go even further towards equipping associations with the knowledge and the tools they need to bid for international meetings and events.

Important research will also be released during this year’s event. South African Tour-ism in conjunction with leading industry pub-lication Headquarters Magazine will present

findings on associations headquartered in Africa; the type of meetings South African associations should be targeting; and how global planners and buyers prioritise destina-tions when they are in the market for finding a host country.

A corporate day, which includes a speed dating session between corporate companies and exhibitors, will assist com-panies looking for facilities for their meetings and conferences to quickly establish which ones best meet their needs.

The customised Business Matchmaking™ System, which was launched with much suc-cess at last year’s event, has been enhanced to ensure an improved and seamless ap-proach to the meetings and diary process for Meetings Africa 2012. It enables exhibitors to find the right buyers and interact and find solutions to their needs in advance, greatly increasing their chances of securing business. Before the show even got underway there were already over 8 000 meetings requested, surpassing the final figure of 7 700 at the end of Meetings Africa 2011. Another highlight of Meetings Africa 2012 will be the introduction of the National Convention Bureau, a major milestone in the industry’s efforts to present a consolidated approach to growing business tourism to South Africa. It is an opportunity for all stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the work of the NCB and its objectives and to contribute towards its success. South Africa’s Tourism Minister, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk, will today visit the show at 11h00 and officially open Meetings Africa 2012 in the Main Exhibi-tion Hall at 11h45.

LEGEND-ARY START TO MEETINGS AFRICA

Published by www.theevent.co.zaPlease recycle me

02 / MEETINGS AFRICA

A FULL PROGRAMME FOR DAY ONE OF MEETINGS AFRICA

GENERAL EVENTS

Registration for Association Lekgotla08h30 – 09h30, Entrance foyer, Bill Gallagher Room Sandton Convention Centre (SCC)

Association Lekgotla09h30 – 16h00, Bill Gallagher Room Sandton Convention Centre (SCC)

Registration for Meetings Africa09h00, Entrance foyer, SCC

Meetings Africa10h00 - 18h00, Exhibition Hall One, SCC

Opening Ceremony12h00 – 13h00, Exhibition Hall One, SCC

Event Greening Forum AGM16h00 – 16h30, Presentation Area, Hall 1, SCC

Hosted Buyers’ Welcome Cocktails16h00 – 20h00, Pretoria

SAACI EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR

Richard Reasons:Making a lasting impression through service excellence08:30 - 08:50, Committee Room , Level Four, SCC

Bulelwa Seti: Tourism Service Excellence Initiative08:50 - 09:10, Committee Room , Level Four, SCC

Industry speakers: What is service excellence and how does it differentiate certain products from others?08:50 - 09:10, Committee Room , Level Four, SCCPanel of Speakers:• Wellington Mpofu – Regional Director of Sales Corporate, The Westcliff Hotel• Wayne Duvenhage – Chief Executive, Avis• Philip Beardwood – Beardwood & Associates• Marc Cavaliere – Head of Global Sales Development and Alliances, South African Airways

Nina Freysen-Pretorius:Facilitated questions and answers 09:50 - 10:00, Committee Room , Level Four, SCC

PRESENTATION AREA

David Sand:Corporate Speed-dating Tips10h00 – 10h20, Presentation Area, Hall 1, SCC

Richard Reasons:CRM for Conventions 10h30 – 11h30, Presentation Area, Hall 1, SCC

Mabeka Makola:SAT Welcome Campaign14h00 – 14h30, Presentation Area, Hall 1, SCC

Michel Couturier: North American Association Market & its international potential14h40 – 15h10, Presentation Area, Hall 1, SCC

Sports Events Strategy - Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SRAC)15h20 – 15h50, Presentation Area, Hall 1, SCC

Grace Stead:Reporting on Event Sustainability16h00 – 16h30, Presentation Area, Hall 1, SCC

David Sand Grace SteadNina Freysen-Pretorius

MEETINGS AFRICA / 03

MEETINGS Africa is not only a unique platform for doing business with international buyers, but an excellent opportunity to gain insight into the global business tourism industry

AN impressive line up of international industry experts will ensure that those that attend Meetings Africa 2012 not only make profitable business con-

nections but come away with the knowledge to take their businesses to new heights in the coming year. The show features a series of presentations, allowing all who attend the op-portunity to deepen their understanding of the global market.

“Meetings Africa is about more than a platform to create business connections, it is an opportunity for us to enhance the lo-cal industry and South Africa’s competitive-ness. One of the best ways to do this is by giving exhibitors and visitors the opportunity to learn from the best in the business,” says South African Tourism Chief Marketing Offi-cer, Roshene Singh.

Among the speakers at Meetings Africa this year is top international destination consul-tant Gary Grimmer, who has 30 years experi-ence in the international meetings industry. With extensive experience in convention cen-tre developments he will speak on “rethinking meetings – planning for the future” and “the real value of meetings.”

Senior lecturer in events management at the University of Greenwich Business School, Rob Davidson, is a widely published expert on

conferences and business events and launch-es an annual report on trends in the meetings and events industry worldwide at EIBTM in Bar-celona. He will present a trends report focus-sing specifically on Africa, In addition, he will deliver lectures at University of Johannesburg and Pretoria

Michel Couturier, founder of leading New York based destination marketing company, Marketing Challenges International, has more than 30 years of experience in the industry and is a strong advocate for advancing the meet-ings and conventions market. A much sought after speaker in his field, he will speak to the Meetings Africa audience about the North American association market and its interna-tional potential.

Other international speakers include Inter-national event organiser Johnny Wang, who will address the audience on how to enter the Chinese meetings market.

A highlight at this year’s Meetings Africa will be the release of exciting and important asso-ciation research findings conducted by South African Tourism in conjunction with Headquar-ters Magazine, the leading EMEA magazine for association executives. Founder of Head-quarters Magazine and owner of Meeting Media Company, Marcel Vissers, will present the findings on associations headquartered in Africa; the type of meetings South African associations should be targeting; and how global planners and buyers prioritise destina-tions when they are in the market for finding a host country.

“We are very excited by the calibre of speakers that we have attracted for this year’s show and expect the presentation theatre to be a big draw card for visitors and exhibitors alike. We urge those that have not yet registered to do so as soon as possible to take advantage of this rare opportunity to learn from the world’s leading experts in this field,” says Singh.

Sally Fink

LEADING INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS AT MEETINGS AFRICA

Rob Davidson

RASHID Toefy believes its full steam ahead for the ICCA African chapter.

LAST year, Africa played host to the In-ternational Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Africa client sup-plier and educational workshop for

the first time. This event, which was aimed at international meeting planners in Africa, aimed to explore ways of raising the interna-tional convention business in Africa and en-hancing intra-African meetings and events.

More than 50% of the ICCA members in Africa were present at the workshop, which explored the challenges facing meeting planners in Africa. “We initiated this workshop in Nairobi to create yet an-other possibility to meet with some of the approximately 200 professional associa-tions in Africa that regularly organise in-ternational meetings” says ICCA African Chapter chairperson and CEO of the cape Town International Convention Centre Rashied Toefy. Representatives of profes-sional African associations from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia at-tended.

This year, the association returns to Af-rica, when the ICCA Africa Chapter hosts its client supplier workshop in Maputo, Mo-zambique.

Rashid believes that membership in Af-rica is growing. “Despite the the challeng-ing economic climate, we have had a 10%

growth in the last year, with two members joining in Kenya during our client supplier workshop in Nairobi last year.”

The ICCA Africa Chapter will be at-tenting Meetings Africa as well as IMEX in May. “We would like to advance the idea of growing association meetings, which occur between African countries, and as always, continuing to attract international meetings with an African rotation to our continent,” says Rashid.

If there’s one thing Rashid’s sure of, its

that the future of meetings lies on the con-tinent. “I think Africa is the untapped conti-nent, with just under one billion consumers, consumers and meeting planners ignore it at their peril,” he says.

ICCA represents 900 member com-panies and organisations in 85 countries worldwide. Members have access to this unique database to attract foreign work.

Vist ICCA at Stand 145.

Sally Fink

RASHID TOEFY SAYS ALL EYES ON AFRICA

Rashid Toefy


THE eco-audit of Meetings Africa 2011 re-vealed an impressive benchmark which the show’s owners, South African Tourism, is deter-mined to surpass this year.

“MEETINGS Africa is considered the leading business tourism exhibi-tion in Africa. To maintain this

status we need to constantly look for ways to improve the show, and embracing sustainable business practices has become one such prior-ity,” says Nomasonto Ndlovu, Global Manager for Business Tourism at South African Tourism (SA Tourism). “Greening is a global trend, and one that has special significance for our tour-ism industry, given that we benefit from some of the most amazing landscapes and wildlife in the world.”

Last year, Meetings Africa embraced a number of event greening practices – in-cluding recycling and the purchasing of re-newable energy to power the show – which means that it did well to set a robust standard.

These greening strategies will be refined and accompanied by new initiatives. Re-newed focus will be placed on waste mini-misation through the principles of reducing and reusing.

“One strategy we are implementing to re-duce waste is to encourage people to drink the free, fresh water from the water coolers, with reusable drinking bottles or glasses,” says Pippa Walker from the Event Greening Forum. “Bottled water will not be banned, but we are hoping to drastically reduce its consumption.”

The reuse principle will also be promoted in the break-down stage of the event, where collection points will be set up for unwanted branding, brochures and stand materials like wood. These will then be distributed to com-munity projects that have a use for them.

“We have set an ambitious target to di-vert 75% of the waste from Meetings Africa 2012 into reuse and recycling streams, which will be a 14% improvement from last year,” says Nomasonto.

An eco-audit will be conducted again this year by sustainability consultants Stead-fast Greening.

The Meetings Africa Daily News caught up with the Event Greening Forum’s Justin Hawes about the greening of Meetings Africa.

Why is greening important?Greening practices such as reduce, reuse and recycle are contradictory to many of the tradi-tional ways in which events are managed. For example, events tend to happen over short periods of time, necessitating a lot of tempo-rary infrastructure. They also need a “wow” factor to make them memorable – which of-ten results in adding more rather than reduc-ing. As awareness grows the new and accept-able way to do business requires a sustainable approach. Ignoring the issue will have a nega-tive impact on your company’s credibility.

Are carbon neutral events achievable?Yes, they can be. If you are undertaking car-bon offsetting activities this can become much easier – for example, planting trees to offset the event related carbon emissions. However, event greening is not simply about having carbon neutral events. To me it is more important that you start to adopt greening practices, and generate awareness from it. This way, positive green actions can be con-tinued beyond your event. These are hard to measure, but can have a significant impact.

What is the aim of the Event Greening Forum?The Event Greening Forum’s main objective is to encourage businesses within the indus-try to become more sustainable. This is done through raising awareness around green issues while providing resources, training and solu-tions.Visit the Event Greening Forum at Stand 1000.

MEETINGS AFRICA SET TO OUT-GREEN 2011 EVENT

Justin Hawes


CONFERENCING follows trends and fash-ions. So says Lani Macdonald who coor-dinates conferencing and sales at Kievits Kroon Country Estate in Pretoria. She and her team watch trends closely in order to be able to adapt the estate’s MICE offer-ings according to demand. Lani says that recently they have identified five trends in conferencing:

1. Smaller groups are requesting a setup for informal discussions. Lani says that organisers want their del-egates to get the most out of their

event, so tailoring the format has become

a popular trend. “We put bean bags un-der the trees, chairs on the lawn, or com-fortable seating in the lounge. Adding informal areas to the mix and allowing delegates to network outside of a formal conferencing format, puts people at ease immediately and encourages creativity.”

2. Many conference coordinators want to include wellness or de-stress activities as part of their programmes. According to Lani, spa treatments are once again a popular part of a conferencing pro-gramme. “In the past couple of years with the downturn in the economy, organisers were looking to cut costs. Luxuries such as

spa treatments were the first items to be sacrificed. Recently, we’ve definitely seen an upturn, and organisers are starting to include fun elements and add-ons in their programmes once more.”

3. Interactive teambuilding activities are also becoming popular again with conferences of all sizes. Says Lani. “Team-building is another fun element of a confer-ence which is coming back. It’s an effec-tive way to break the ice and encourage a group of strangers to start communicating and networking. Interactive teambuilding, particularly, is in demand, with activities such as Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), facilitated by a professional teambuilding company, proving immensely popular. Ev-eryone gets involved, mentally and physi-cally,” says Lani, “and while you are using your brain to strategise, at the same time you’re having a good time and learning about your colleagues.”

4. The demand for weekend confer-encing is growing, due to the fact that it is more productive to conference after hours than for companies to take staff out of the office for two to three days.

5. Lighter lunch menus such as a salad and sandwich bar are in vogue, and go hand in hand with the corporate chal-lenge to encourage healthier lifestyles amongst employees.

Visit Kievits Kroon at Meetings Africa at Stand 1003 J.

Sally Fink

FIVE TRENDS IN CONFERENCING

Kievits Kroon

EXHIBITING proudly at Meetings Africa 2012, Starwood Hotels & Resorts is using the oppor-tunity to showcase its well-established and growing footprint across the African continent.

St. Regis Debuts in the Africa RegionStarwood will debut the first St. Regis luxury re-sort in the Africa region later this year with the new St. Regis Mauritius Resort. At nearly 250 square metres, the main ballroom will be able to accommodate a range of gatherings from executive round-table meetings to grand oc-casions. The resort will also offer a complete range of business services.

Le Méridien in AlgeriaStarwood will debut the first Le Méridien ho-tel in Algeria with the opening of Le Méridien Oran Hotel & Convention Centre. Le Méridien Oran Hotel & Convention Centre is situated high on a cliff in Oran offering breathtaking views of the Mediterranean Sea. Le Méridien Oran Hotel & Convention Centre houses the largest meeting facilities in Northern Africa rep-resenting almost 9,000 square metres of meet-ing space including two ballrooms, a pre-func-tion area and 23 meeting rooms. The conven-tion centre encompasses an auditorium with a capacity to seat 3,000 people including an adjacent exhibition centre of approximately 14,000 square metres.

Sheraton Cairo Hotel & Casino Currently undergoing a major refurbishment, the Sheraton Cairo Hotel Towers & Casino is

scheduled to re-open later this year. Located on the west bank of the River Nile in unique adjoining towers, the newly renovated Shera-ton Cairo Hotel Towers & Casino will feature 656 beautifully appointed guest rooms, nine restaurants and bars, a new lobby entrance and façade, new ballrooms, a fully-equipped business centre and a dedicated health club.

Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel & SpaLe Méridien Pyramids Hotel & Spa is nestled be-tween the city and the Giza area and boasts unparalleled views of the Giza Pyramids. Offer-ing the largest number of rooms in the area, Le Méridien Pyramids Hotel & Spa features

635 rooms and is within walking distance from some of Egypt’s most historic treasures.

Le Méridien BarbaronsLocated on the west coast of Mahé Island Seychelles, the hotel recently debuted new conference centre facilities suited for both in-timate and large groups, offering a stylish and state-of-the-art venue for incentive groups, meetings, exhibitions, product launches or gala dinners. Le Méridien Barbarons is just a short distance from some of the most popular attractions in the Seychelles.

Visit Starwood Hotels at Stand 417. Sally Fink

STARWOOD CONTINUES EXPANSION INTO AFRICA

La Meridien Barbarons




“WHILE we work at entrenching Joburg’s posi-tion as Africa’s leading business tourism desti-nation, the team at Joburg Tourism Company (JTC) balances this with an ongoing focus on tourism product development, and the pre-sentation and packaging of leisure offerings to the consumer market,” says Acting CEO, Phelisa Mangcu.

“ALTHOUGH Joburg is such a youthful City, having celebrated its 125th an-niversary last year, it is a treasure trove of economic, social, political and an-

thropological history,” says Phelisa. “The City boasts layer upon layer of fascinating history, development and human interest stories – of course not forgetting the leisure and lifestyle aspects of entertainment, sports, music, arts and culture. At Joburg Tourism, we work with both the public and the private sector to publi-cise the development of city precincts, nodes,

sites, attractions and products which are of in-terest to both locals and visitors.”

Three recent additions to routes and itin-eraries promoted by JTC include Joburg’s Nature Route (taking in sites of natural beauty and anthropological relevance in the City), the Indian Route (comprising a history of the Indian community in Joburg, with a focus on Mahatma Ghandi, who lived in Joburg from 1903 to 1914) and the Adventure Route (in-cluding some of the high octane spills and thrills on offer in Jozi).

Urban tourism is coming into its own in Jo-hannesburg, with the City seeing an increas-ing number of visitors keen to explore diverse aspects of the City – from all the exciting de-velopments downtown to the heritage routes and sites in Alex and Soweto. This includes the rejuvenation of entire districts or precincts, along with the development of public street art, pedestrianised zones, heritage sites and

lifestyle activities like the Neighbourgoods Mar-ket in Braamfontein and the Sunday market at Arts on Main.

From a lifestyle and leisure perspective, JTC continuously creates a diversity of pack-ages and options around the City’s calendar of events and activities. This forms part of its marketing strategy to entrench Joburg as a global, year-round business and leisure desti-nation, brimming with special events, attrac-tions, sights and sounds to encourage visitors to stay longer, spend more and enjoy explor-ing further afield. Aside from the live events feed and gig guide on its website [www.jo-burgtourism.com], a relatively new channel in the marketing process is JTC’s booking portal (hyperlink: http://travel.joburgtourism.com) JTC has partnered with a host of event organ-isers, hotels and tour operators to promote these signature Joburg spring events.

Visit Joburg Tourism at Stand 505.

JOBURG’S URBAN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT FORGES AHEAD

THE East London International Convention Centre (ELICC), managed by Premier Ho-tels and Resorts, was the proud host of the 2010/2011 National Corrections Excellence Awards staged in February this year.

THE awards evening, which formed part of a two day stay at the adjacent Pre-mier Hotel Regent and Premier Hotel

EL ICC, featured a sophisticated entertain-ment production , complete with world class performers and pyrotechnics.

“It is always thrilling to experience how effective the well-designed venue works when hosting events of this magnitude. Our approach at the Premier Hotels & Re-sorts is to ensure that delegates relax in

comfort along with flawless service”, said MD Samuel Nassimov.

Managed by Premier Hotels & Re-sorts, the state-of-the-art ELICC includes a 650-seater auditorium, an exhibition floor and a major hall seating up to 850 people ball-room style and 2100 cinema-style as well as executive board-rooms and restaurants.

The ELICC was awarded Best Congress and Convention Centre, Africa in the presti-gious Business Travel Awards 2011, awarded by international publication Business Desti-nations with the category criteria including the range of services for the business travel-er, quality of facilities and reliability as well as environmental awareness and overall sup-port for sustainable business. Meet ELICC at stand 710.

ELICC HOSTS NATIONAL CORRECTIONS EXCELLENCE AWARDS


HAVING been contracted as an infrastruc-ture supplier for exhibitions and events hosted at many international venues, Oa-sys Innovations was nominated the pre-ferred supplier of infrastructure for the Sandton Convention Centre (SCC). A Ser-vice Level Agreement (SLA) was signed to formalise the agreement.

SAYS Oasys Innovations Chief Execu-tive Brian Kennedy: “Proximity to markets and customers has always been part of our business strategy.”

“As a supplier of infrastructure and custom stands there are three distinct fo-cus groups – the place where the activity is hosted, the entity responsible for organ-ising the activity, and lastly the person or company who will be using the activity as a marketing platform. As a supplier we differentiate between all three as they each have distinct requirements, although they are all strategic partners in the value chain,” says Brian.

“If one is not there, or there is under-per-formance, then it becomes a non-event. As we have SLA’s in place with certain organ-isers and end users, it is a logical develop-ment that we also partner with venues.”

Brian says that the value of a partner-ship, such as with the SCC, is a win-win rec-ipe for both organisations.

“After nearly 35 years of building many exhibitions and booths at different venues,

including the SCC for the last 12 years, we understand the complexities associated with the management of a venue which has its own unique business model. As a preferred service provider we are well po-sitioned to support the intrinsic processes and business objectives. All our customers

have customers, and as long as we contin-ue to embrace that thought, the partner-ships will be of enduring qualities.”

Visit Oasys at Stand 143.

Sally Fink

OASYS GETS VENUE VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

Sandton Convention Centre


THE Legacy Group and its associate com-pany Legacy Hotels and Resorts has re-cently unveiled its latest innovation by way of its new luxury rewards programme, Legacy Lifestyle.

THE programme is a cash back re-wards programme that allows cus-tomers and patrons to earn Legacy Rands each time they spend money

at a Legacy Lifestyle partner. In a bid to shake up the loyalty programme industry, Legacy Lifestyle does notmerely promote the company’s brand, but through its part-ners has tapped into the needs and brands associated with a luxury lifestyle.

“At Legacy we have, as a group, al-ways looked at mechanisms by which to differentiate ourselves in the industry while

still delivering superior service and creat-ing products of exceptional quality,” states Mike Rowley, marketing manager of the Legacy Group. “It is with this that we have developed Legacy Lifestyle, a one stop shop for leading brands, and a rewards programme thatenables our customers to start earning rewards from the first rand they spend.”

The brands that have to date come on-board include an excess of 160 part-ners ranging from dining, entertainment, spas, fashion, home, art, electronics, fine jewellery, health and beauty, hotels and resorts, as well as a range of speciality sup-pliers and a number of charities who too can benefit from members spending their Legacy Rands.

“The criteria to becoming a Legacy Life-style partner is straight forward, if an organ-isation feels that what it offers customer fits in with the lifestyle demands of a Legacy customer, then they immediately qualify,” says Mike. “Our partners have been se-lected because they add specific value to the lifestyle of a Legacy customer, they are iconic, desirable and sought after.”

In addition to its impressive list of part-ners, Legacy Lifestyle has also partnered with Legacy Hotels & Resorts as its pre-ferred accommodation supplier for South Africa, Madagascar and Namibia. Legacy Lifestyle Legacy Lifestyle hasalso appoint-ed LUX Island Resorts, formerly known as

Naiade, the largest custodian of luxury re-sorts in the Indian Ocean Islands and Mal-dives region, as its preferred accommo-dation partner for these areas. Each third party partner will assist in covering a wider geographical reach for members looking to earn Legacy Rands no matter where they travel.

Earning Rands is even simpler; all that is required is a mobile number and five-digit pin, even if a card has been left at home Rands can be earned. In addition joining the programme is free.

“Customers earn Legacy Rands every time visit and spend money at a partner and Rands earned on a game drive can be spend on a luxury clothing item or vice versa,” adds Mike. “The rewards are limit-less and the boundaries infinite and all of our members have access to preferred rates, specials and upgrades dependant on their status.”

There are also no blackout dates and no onerous terms and conditions, it is in fact the exact opposite of any loyalty programme you may have joined before. Before its launch, the company conducted extensive research into what works and what doesn’t when it comes to loyalty programmes and according to Mike are confident that it has created a programme that is geared to-wards what customers really want.

Visit Legacy at Stand 801.Sally Fink

LEGACY LAUNCHES REWARDS PROGRAMME

Namibia


SHAMWARI Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape and Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, situated in the Klein Karoo, present a unique walking expe-rience called the ‘Explorer Camp’, offering

guests an opportunity to explore rich wilder-ness areas with a two day walking safari and accommodation in ‘mobile tents’.

EXPLORER Camp is ideal for guests to get back to nature from an ‘on the ground’ perspective, accompanied by a qualified guide, spending two nights

immersed in nature amongst the Big Five while camping in the bush. The Shamwari Explorer will operate throughout the year while the San-bona Explorer will operate from October until April each year.

The mobile canvas tents sleep a maxi-mum of two people and are spaced out in order to create privacy whilst learning about the flora, fauna, and exceptional rock art sites

at Sanbona, stargazing and fascinating history of the area. All meals are included which can be are enjoyed around the camp fire. Special meals are catered for when required.

Guests are required to be fit enough to walk at least four hours a day for the ut-most safari camping experience. Age re-strictions do apply and any medical and dietary requirements are to be communi-cated upon booking.

The Shamwari Group presents - Shamwari Game Reserve, Eastern Cape - Sanbona Wild-life Reserve, outside Cape Town - Jock Safari Lodge, Kruger National Park - Nkomazi Game Reserve, Mpumalanga - Gorilla’s Nest Lodge, Rwanda & Nyungwe Forest Lodge, Rwanda.

Visit Shamwari at Stand 715.

SHAMWARI INTRODUCES EXPLORER CAMP

THIS year, South African Tourism (SAT) are building on the Meetings Africa Student Day by creating a more structured leader-ship programme targeting only the top stu-dents from tourism schools.

THE Meetings Africa leadership pro-gramme is a National Leadership Ini-tiative that aims at introducing and teaching young industry profession-

als about business tourism and the tourism industry in general. The main concept of the South African programme was bench-marked against two main international business tourism Leadership programme, namely: the Meetings Professional Inter-national (MPI) IMEX known as the “Future Leaders Forum”, as well as the ICCA EIBTM “Forum for Young Professionals” which is open to ICCA members, and organisations who are attending EIBTM as part of the Hosted Buyer Programme (both corporate and association clients). This programme aims to empower CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) qualifications in South Africa.

“Meetings Africa research results showed that the last day of Meetings Af-rica is flooded by tertiary students wanting to find out more about the industry as well as about the show,” says SAT intern, Non-hlanhla Tshabalala. “There was a concern from exhibitors that these students were just floating around and taking all the pro-motional material. Therefore we saw an

opportunity of benchmarking against oth-er international shows and also introduc-ing students to the meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition / events (MICE) industry as well as the general Tourism and Hospitality industry.”

However, there were some constraints to developing such a programme, and in-dustry buy in was needed for its success.

The Tourism Lecture’s Association came on board to nominate their best Tourism and Hospitality students across the country to attend the programme. The students will arrive on 27 February 2012 and will stay un-til 2 March 2012, and given case studies in relation to Meetings Africa. They will be re-quired to research the event and write an essay which will be presented on the last day of Meetings Africa.

The Society of Incentive and Travel Ex-ecutives (SITE) South Africa has offered to sponsor one of the students with a bursary to the value of R25 000.

SAT have also organised for some elec-tronic prizes to be sponsored for the students.

The Meetings Africa Student Leadership Programme entails:•27 February 2012- Welcome Cocktail Function at the University of Johannesburg the School of Tourism and Hospitality. Case study topics will be allocated.•28 February 2012- Students will attend the Association Legotla and meet with interna-tional speakers

•29 February 2012- Students will attend a guest lecture by Rob Davidson from the University of Greenwich University •1 March 2012- Students will present their case studies to a panel of judges.•1 March 2012- Courtesy of Johannesburg Tourism, students will participate in a tour of Soweto and conduct site Inspections of ac-commodation establishments in the area.

Sally Fink

SAT INTRODUCES YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME

Nonhlanhla Thsabalala

Documents

Meetings Africa Daily News Day 1