CTICC to host world's actuaries
30 May 2003
Cape Town has beaten a number of high-profile European cities in its bid to host the International Congress of Actuaries (ICA) in March 2010.
The Congress, which will attract some 3 000 participants from over 35 different countries, will address issues around the responsibility of the professional actuary, the role of actuaries towards new accounting regulations, as well as high-severity risks and insurability.
When the Council of the International Actuarial Association (IAA) met in Sydney this month, there was a unanimous decision to hold the congress in Cape Town.
Rick Taylor, CEO of the Cape Town Convention Bureau, said the potential impact of the congress on Cape Town’s economy was "in the region of R25-million, which will make a positive contribution to the local economy while assisting to create additional job opportunities.
"Internationally, Cape Town is now regarded as one of the best-value-for-money destinations in the world", Taylor said.
Wim Els, executive director of the Actuarial Society of South Africa, said that winning the bid was a coup for the Society as it "demonstrates our ability to bid for, organise and host a conference of this calibre".
This will be the 29th ICA and the first to be held in Africa.
"The Congress is held every four years. The fact that the City is seen to be a gateway to the rest of Africa has played an important part in the decision-making process", Els said.
"Another drawcard in hosting the Congress in Cape Town is that it will be the first time that the ICA will specifically cater for delegates’ children, thereby encouraging participants to bring their families along and stay after the Congress to enjoy Cape Town’s many tourist attractions."
The ICA will be preceded by three days of meetings with the IAA council and committees, with the actual Congress taking place over a period of five days.
The Congress will be held in the soon-to-be-completed Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), which is ideally located between Cape Town’s CBD and the popular V&A Waterfront, one of South Africa’s top 10 international tourist attractions.
CTICC managing director Dirk Elzinga says the Centre has already booked over 134 conferences for the next 10 years, of which 100 are international conferences. "To date, we have focused our marketing efforts on attracting international conferences, which have the greatest economic spin-off for Cape Town and the Western Cape.
"Ideally, we also want to pursue events that not only attract these important international delegates, but which encourage discussion and debate on issues that can directly benefit South Africa. We believe the International Congress of Actuaries is exactly such an event."
"The MICE industry within Cape Town finally has the missing piece of the puzzle with the opening of the CTICC", Taylor said. "Now that Cape Town has its own convention centre we are able to compete on equal footing with other world-class destinations such as Sydney, Rome and Paris."
Source: Cape Town Convention Bureau
