The first day of ibtm africa staged in Cape Town saw a powerful cross-section of the business events industry in Africa work through topical trends, insightful case studies and reports on how this industry is evolving on the African continent.
“ibtm africa 2017 was once again presented in a new and engaging format this year,” explains Chardonnay Marchesi, General Manager of Africa Travel Week, which incorporates ibtm africa. “Following the success of last year, we opted to increase the length of the conference from one to two days with the programme focusing on important issues, trends and highlights from the business events sector. This has been well received on the first day of ibtm africa and has further cemented the platform as the premier business events conference on the continent.”
The first day’s programme of ibtm africa focused on pertinent topics such as what is currently hot (and what is not) in MICE, new trends in MICE including ConFex and Bleisure, a case study on how Rwanda has positioned itself as a major players in the business events industry of Africa, and where Africa is at right now when it comes to business events.
Speakers included MC Alex Granger, Chief Executive Officer of The Possibility of YOU; Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Thome, Chief Correspondent for Africa, eTN and Publisher of ATC News; Carol Weaving, Managing Director of Reed Exhibitions; Gillian Saunders, Head of Advisory Services at Grant Thornton; and Rashid Toefy, Managing Director of MCI in South Africa, one of the world’s largest conference and association management companies; amongst others.
Furthermore, announced at ibtm africa today, the Sports & Events Tourism Exchange is to form an integral part of Africa Travel Week in 2018, a collaboration that will bring together travel professionals and potential sports tourism events, in a bid to increase the number of events hosted on the African continent.
Join in the ibtm africa conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #ibtma17, or follow our Facebook page for more exciting highlights.
Don’t miss out on the second day of ibtm africa, with focus on the digital marketing landscape through the E-Tourism Africa Summit and the important potential of sports tourism in Africa. A full programme can be found online at ibtmafrica.com.
ENDS.
About ibtm africa
A key highlight of Africa Travel Week, ibtm africa has evolved from a table top event to a high quality content driven education programme which focuses on content that includes technology, future trends, procurement and consolidation, expert thought leadership, leveraging off the benefit of Foreign Exchange and the convergence of the travel and meetings industry.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is a leading global player in the world of exhibitions and part of RELX Group, one of South Africa’s largest and most successful business events companies. Reed Exhibitions brings over 50 years of experience in developing, marketing, selling and organising exhibitions, events, conferences and meetings.For more information, contact:
Robyn Elford – RedLip Communications
+27 83 460 5751
Casey van Niekerk – RedLip Communications
+27 82 214 7582