Big-tickets events to provide a boost for Joburg

Building on Joburg’s popularity as an African destination, the city council intends to use several popular international and local events scheduled in the coming months as a platform to market the city and harness business opportunities.

According to the Master Card Global Destination Cities Index released in June last year, Joburg was ranked the most popular destination in Africa, with a projected 2.54 million international visitors.

“Despite a marginal 5.5 percent increase in international visitor numbers from 2012, Johannesburg’s substantial 53.6 percent growth in international visitors from 2009 to 2013 has propelled it into the index’s top 20 fastest growing cities globally,” the city council said in a statement.

The city ranked tops in Africa in terms of international visitor spending, with $2.7 billion estimated to have been pumped into the city last year, which was a one percent increase on 2012’s expenditure.

Joburg was expected to host a variety of international and local events over the next three months including music shows such as the Arts Alive Festival and the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz, and wine and beer festivals such as Winex, which according to the city council were likely to attract thousands of people from all over the country and abroad.

Joburg Tourism’s deputy director for Convention Bureau, Pumla Ntsele said hosting events of this magnitude would have a direct and positive economic and development impact on the city and “all who work and play within its boundaries”.

“Large business events often attract between 500 and 1 000 international registrants, who generally stay for between 14 and 19 days, with a direct or indirect contribution to the tourism value chain, including accommodation, restaurants, tourist attractions and transport services,” said Ntsele.

“Business tourism creates an ideal leveraging point to promote the city, not only as a premier destination for business [as the continent’s financial and commercial hub] but also as an all-year-round destination for leisure, lifestyle, sports and mega-events and, even more importantly, as a centre for trade development and investment purposes.”

“The fact that Johannesburg is the most visited city on the African continent needs to be used to promote its appeal as a popular destination for business and leisure to attract more visitors,” said Ntsele.