South Africa is gearing up to host its tenth Meetings Africa in February next year. The country ranked no 1 in Africa and the Middle East for the hosting of business events, looks forward to hosting buyers from around the world as the very best of Africa’s meetings industry showcases the continent’s growing capability and excellence in hosting business events.
Preparations for next year’s event are already well underway. However, organisers are dealing with concerns from potential visitors about the safety of attending the event in light of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
With no known cases of Ebola in South Africa or in any country bordering South Africa, visitors to South Africa are no more at risk than they are when visiting any other non-affected part of the world.
South Africa has put in place precautions to minimise the risk of air arrivals from affected countries. On 21 August 2014, South African Minister of Health, Mr Aaron Motsoaledi temporarily barred entry to South Africa for all non-South African citizens travelling into South Africa from the high-risk countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Furthermore, health surveillance at ports of entry into South Africa ensure that the country will effectively identify possible Ebola cases before they enter the country.
South Africa’s risk of land arrivals from the affected region is extremely small. South Africa is thousands of kilometres away from the West African countries affected by the Ebola epidemic. In fact, it would be shorter to travel from the affected region to the United Kingdom than it would be to travel by land to South Africa.
In the event that there is a case of Ebola in South Africa, the country is well equipped to deal with it.
South Africa has a sophisticated and extremely capable medical sector with leading edge medical facilities, isolation facilities and clinical care as well as specialist communicable disease medical practitioners.
The strength of South Africa’s health and medical establishments are recognised the world over, especially with regards to medical specialities, biotechnology and medical devices.
Last year South Africa successfully hosted the World Congress of Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, World Critical Care 2013 and the 19th International Symposium on Dental Hygiene. In August this year the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the International Union of Architects World Congress, hosted its meeting in Durban, without incident.
In 2016 South Africa will host the International AIDS Congress in Durban for the second time, an event expected to attract 20 000 people to the city. In the same year, the 3rd International World Congress of Nephrology and the Combined Congress of the Orthopaedic Associations will both take place in South Africa.
South Africa is using its world leading expertise to assist Ebola-affected nations. Government has committed R30 million to these efforts which include deploying South African communicable diseases specialist clinicians to affected countries on the continent, providing mobile isolation units and sending medicine and other clinical supplies to those countries.
This is the Africa that has world-class transport infrastructure, accommodation, banking, information technology services and medical facilities. The Africa that is the gateway to growth and opportunity. The Africa that is home to a warm and welcoming people who will ensure that your business event is memorable, authentic and unique. This developing, exciting, growing Africa is looking to hosting the world for Meetings Africa, taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre from 23 – 25 February next year.
South Africa’s growing popularity as a business events destination is evidenced by the growing number of facilities to meet the demand for hosting business events in South Africa including numerous international convention centres. The Cape Town International Convention Centre is currently undergoing an expansion that will double the centre’s existing exhibition capacity.
South Africa is Africa and the Middle East’s leading business events destination. Furthermore, two South African cities – Durban and Cape Town – are placed in the Top 100 cities in the world for business events. In 2013, South Africa hosted 118 meetings that met the criteria of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), taking the country’s global ranking to 34th place (up from 37th place in 2012).
The country’s reputation as an accessible, value for money and world-class destination continues to grow. Organisers of Meetings Africa 2015 expect the show to be a gathering of the continent’s best exhibitors and buyers from around the world, who will toast the show’s decade of growth and success and you are invited to join in.
Meetings Africa takes place at the Sandton Convention Centre from 23 – 25 February, 2015. For more information visit www.meetingsafrica.co.za
