Reed Exhibitions SA, a leading organiser of business-to-business exhibitions in South Africa, has embarked on a concerted campaign to attract more African visitors to its shows.
Currently managing a portfolio of 21 high profile exhibitions encompassing the industrial, IT and communications, hospitality and marketing sectors, one of Reed's objectives is to substantially grow the number of visitors from African countries to certain of their exhibitions.
"On average 1000 African visitors attend our shows annually. We wish to increase these volumes to 2000, says Lynn Chamier, general manager of Reed Exhibitions. "Exhibitions which have been earmarked for African promotion include Computer Faire, Hostex, Securex, Afriwater/Afribuild and Blue IQ Smart Industry Expo, all to be held at the Sandton Convention Centre this year."
To date, attempts by exhibition organisers to tap into the African market have been thwarted by a number of different stumbling blocks. "Major difficulties include how to identify potential visitors, how to communicate with them and how to persuade them to come all the way to South Africa for an exhibition," says David Graham, managing director of International Trade Projects.
Significantly it is worth noting that the average African visitor to South Africa spends approximately R1000 a day, opposed to the British visitor who spends under R600. African visitors flying into Johannesburg inject about R7 million a year into the economy, and of the 6 million tourists visiting South Africa, some 4,5 million are from Africa. "South Africa's tourism future clearly lies more in Africa than in Europe, the US or the Far East," says Stanley Subramoney, deputy CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers Southern Africa.
In order to capitalise on this burgeoning market and achieve a higher African visitor attendance, Reed has formed a strategic partnership with International Trade Projects, a company highly skilled in bringing African visitors to exhibitions hosted in South Africa, as well as 5 Star Tours that specialises in bringing groups of African business executives to South Africa. Key components of the campaign include a media communications/public relation's plan, travel packages and key company liaison.
"We believe this is a great opportunity to expose South Africa's products and services to a market which has not been widely explored and are confident that this new initiative will result in more African visitors to our shows," concludes Chamier.
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