The African Exhibition Sector: Driving Business Tourism and Economic Growth

Tourism is a pivotal driver of the South African economy and contributes at least 3,7% to the country’s overall GDP per annum[1]. Most recent reports show that the economic impact of the industry has created over 2.88 million job opportunities for South Africans[2], and is a positive contributor to infrastructure development, foreign exchange earnings and cultural exchange between visitors and locals.

Part of the contribution is business tourism, specifically MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) which brings with it enormous opportunities for diversifying South Africa, and Africa, economically.

Last week, the African Association of Exhibition Organisers, supported and participated in a seminar held by UFI (The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry) on the African Exhibition Outlook, whereby the industry reflected and openly shared their outlooks on the opportunities, pitfalls, and path ahead for exhibitions in Africa.

According to UFI’s 2019 Impact Report, the $200- billion of total GDP, supported by the global exhibitions sector, would rank exhibitions as the 55th largest economy globally. Although Africa accounts for a small percentage of this, the continent was host to 7 million visitors and 300 000 exhibitors, with an estimated GDP of nearly $3-billion.

The ever-increasing international interest in the African economy signals growing attention for investment and access to resources, infrastructure, agribusiness, and retail and services, which is good news for the entire exhibition value chain and a leading driver of business tourism.

According to Devi Paulsen-Abbott, Chairperson of the African Association of Exhibition Organisers, “Most governments, as part of their post-pandemic recovery plan, have touted tourism to be a big part of the development and growth of economies. Business tourism, specifically, has a huge impact especially from an African perspective. The exhibitions industry is significant in driving economic growth in Africa via the platforms that connect buyers, sellers and regulators and are indeed economic enablers.”

Whilst the pandemic affected multiple industries, exhibitions and business tourism suffered greatly across the exhibition value chain: hotels, restaurants and conference spaces were empty, and the industry was forced to find alternative ways to host events – online – which would not directly benefit the local economies.

“It’s going to be a marathon, not a sprint. Still, we have been seeing significant momentum in Q1 and Q2,” says Paulsen-Abbott.

With 26 million people employed in the events industry across Africa, tourism still needs more workers in various regions. The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry identifies that not many governments facilitate business events, making the pandemic’s effects more difficult.

“South African tourism has incredibly generous funding and incentive schemes for organisers to host their events. So, organisers can go to their local convention bureau and apply for funding to host an event. The same applies to the trade investment promotion agencies and even the cities. If you talk to the right people, do it early enough, and understand how they navigate; events can get funding from government entities.”

“The South African tourism equity fund that is a part of this tourism recovery plan is R1.2 billion. It will drive the reconstruction of the industry as part of the recovery to advance transformation and make it a much more enabling environment for all parties and players. I think that’s going to be an exciting opportunity for our sector,” concludes Paulsen-Abbott.

For more information on the African Association of Exhibition Organisers, visit https://www.aaxo.co.za