Conferences and expos

Durban ICC defies the downturn

Suren Naidoo

16 March 2009

Despite the global economic downturn, the ICC Durban Inkosi Albert Luthuli Complex has won the hosting rights to 19 international congresses and events which are set to bring thousands of business delegates to the city over the next few years.

The latest event to be secured by the complex is the Europe Africa Business Summit in 2010, which is set to coincide with South Africa's hosting of the Fifa World Cup in June next year.

Another significant development is that South Africa has been short-listed along with France and Canada to host the giant 6th World Water Forum (WWF) in Durban in 2012, which could secure up 20 000 delegates.

The WWF 2012 announcement is due to be made at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey this week. Durban is holding thumbs to secure the hosting of the influential international water meet, which would be one of the biggest conferences ever hosted in South Africa.

"These are very exciting times for the ICC Durban, and we are not going to let ourselves to be bogged down by what's happening internationally as a result of the international financial crisis," Sal Govender, ICC Durban's marketing and sales director, said ahead of the recent Meetings Africa business tourism tradeshow in Johannesburg.

"We are in fact looking at the opportunities out there and want to benefit from some of our competitive advantages, like the rand exchange rate, which makes it more economical to host international conferences and events in South Africa.

"Over the last 18 months we have won some 19 new international bids to host major congresses and events up to 2014," Govender said.

"These include the prestigious International Olympic Committee Session in 2011; the International Union of Architects in 2014; the World Psychotherapy Congress in 2014; the World Federation of the Deaf in 2011; the International Health Tourism Conference in 2010; the World Methodist Council in 2011; the Indaba tourism tradeshow in 2010; as well as the World Travel Awards and the International Dancesport Championships later this year."

According to ICC operations director Troy Reynolds, the ICC has already secured more than 31 international events between 2009 and 2014, with numerous other bids in the pipeline or preliminary stages.

The ICC Durban Inkosi Albert Luthuli Complex is made up of the International Convention Centre (ICC), the ICC Exhibition Centre and the R460-million ICC Arena, which opened in 2007.

According to an ICC annual report, the centre hosted 855 events in 2007/08, of which 71 were international association conferences, attracting more than 282 000 people, including 24 000 international visitors, to Durban. This resulted in estimated economic spin-offs of more than R700-million for the local economy.

Since the opening of the ICC Durban in 1997, it has had an economic impact of more than R6-billion on the local economy.

An ICC conference delegate survey carried out by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal in October 2008 revealed that delegates spend R6 400 on average per conference. At least 47% of those polled said they were "extremely likely" to return to the city on holiday within the next five years.

This article was first published in The Mercury. Republished here with kind permission.