Western Cape Business 2019 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE Tourism

SPECIAL FEATURE Tourism and events The Western Cape is world class in many categories. Ten cities were nominated in 2018 for “World’s Leading Festival and Events Destination”. Listed together with Singapore, Dubai, London, Montreal, Sydney and the likes of Rio de Janeiro was Cape Town. Cape Town also won an African award for hosting the most international association meetings, based on 34 000 international delegates attending conferences in Cape Town in a calendar year. The ranking is awarded by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). The Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau, a Wesgro unit, promotes the province as a venue and assists with bids, planning support and on-site services. Events, conferences and exhibitions help to create a year-round industry which in turn boosts employment. The Bureau helped secure 33 bids for the region in 2017/18 which had a projected impact of R453-million. The R900-million expansion of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC2) has given the city’s biggest venue additional volume and flexibility. The new section of the centre hosted its first conference in September 2017, the 21st Annual Congress of the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) at the same time as the CTICC was hosting another major conference. The Cape Town Stadium, built to host matches WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2019 46

SPECIAL FEATURE in the 2010 soccer World Cup, has become a multipurpose venue at the centre of the Green Point Park, a popular venue for families but also a site for film and advertising shoots. Discovery Sport awarded the HSCB World Rugby Sevens Series event in Cape Town the “best live event” in 2016. It has become routine for tickets for this fun event to be sold out within minutes and the pictures of happy fans in a packed stadium paint a good picture of South Africa and Cape Town for global television viewers. Some Cape Town venues Cape Town Stadium: Several meeting and conference venues within the stadium are supplemented by the Stadium itself (with seating for 55 000), the adjacent Green Point Athletics Stadium and the Stadium Forecourt, which hosts the Bike Expo held before the Cape Town Cycle Tour. The stadium and the Green Point Park are popular venues with film producers and advertising film crews. Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC): The largest convention centre in Cape Town is a large part of the reason for the city’s prominence in the conference and events sector. Offering tremendous flexibility and range for conference and exhibition organisers, the CTICC includes in its portfolio 11 200m² of column-free space for expos and an auditorium with an orchestra pit that can seat 1 500 guests. The recent expansion (CTICC 2), has added 10 000m² of conference and exhibition space and a further 3 000m² of formal and informal meeting space. PPC Newlands: One of the world’s great cricket stadiums is available for hire. Four venues of varying sizes include a recently renovated President’s Suite which could host anything from a formal dinner to a product launch. GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World: Venues range from intimate meeting rooms to the Grand Arena and other spaces that can host up to 7 000 people for large events. Century City Conference Centre: The largest of 20 venues can accommodate 1 900 people and outside events can be held in the Century City Square. The province has a range of excellent facilities for conferences outside the metropole. George has the five-star facilities of the Fancourt Hotel and Country Club (with banqueting capacity up to 250) and the Protea Hotel King George. Destiny Africa Investments Holdings has targeted George as the next centre for meetings, incentives, conferences and expos. The historic town of Stellenbosch and the nearby wine and golf estates have good conference facilities. Success story Tourism has been a remarkable economic success story in the Western Cape. Premier Helen Zille’s 2018 State of the Province Address included the fact that the sector had grown 11% in the previous 12 months, adding R2-billion to the Gross Value Add of the province. Cape Town Air Access is a partnership between Wesgro, the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, Airports Company South Africa, Cape Economic impact of annual events in Cape Town Event Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town Cycle Tour* HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series Cape Town International Jazz Festival Impact R224-million R500-million R500-million R700-million R700-million * It is estimated that the three other big cycling events hosted by the Western Cape (the Absa Cape Epic, the Cape Rouleur and the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup) collectively contribute a further R500-million. 47 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2019