Star grading for SA expo venues
Chandrea Gerber
6 July 2004The Tourism Grading Council of South Africa has scored a world first with the development of a star grading system for the country's meeting, exhibition and special event venues - and made a pilot grading of four venues representative of what the country has to offer the conference industry.
The development of a star grading scheme for the meetings, exhibitions and special events (MESE) sector is a world first - no other country grades its conference and meeting venues.
The Tourism Grading Council of South Africa, established in 2000 to develop and manage a grading framework for the country's tourism industry, launched its star-grading system for the accommodation industry in 2001, following this up with star-grading for the caravan and camping, and backpacking and hostelling
industries.
The council is busy extending the system to the restaurant industry. By 2005, tourism operators and the tourist transport industry will fall under the system. All sectors of South Africa's tourism industry will be graded by the end of 2006.
Participation in the system is voluntary.
The grading system for the meetings, exhibitions and special events category was the culmination of months of research and consultation by a representative working group comprising leading operators, professionals and associations within the sector.
The council sets minimum requirements for grading, and assesses a venue's overall quality - including the building's exterior, meeting and function rooms, exhibition and special-events venues, public areas and toilets, dining facilities, food and beverage services, and housekeeping.
Four establishments, representing the range of MESE facilities available in South Africa, were involved in the MESE sector's pilot grading.
The Sandton Convention Centre received five stars; the Kwa-Phokeng Conference Centre in Kempton Park was awarded three; Amanzingwe in Broederstroom, about 20 kilometres north-west of Johannesburg, was given five; and the CSIR International Conference Centre in Pretoria received four.
According to Tourism Grading Council administration manager John Rothman, the difference in size of the four venues demonstrates that different venues can be graded according to their own capacity, not according to a fixed universal standard.
The council's grading system, Rothman adds, is based on extensive international research, which reveals - among other things - a move away from inflexible grading schemes to those that focus on customer expectations.
Grading council executive director Salifou Siddo says the system will help to "establish standards and ensure delivery of quality service" in the MESE sector.
"They assess you on a wide spectrum of criteria", says Anton Post, deputy executive director of the Sandton Convention Centre, adding that the grading standards are "quite stringent".
Post believes that grading can help smaller venues give potential clients an indication of what they can expect.
Source: City of Johannesburg
