FORTNIGHTLY ROUNDUP


Stellenbosch: accessible history and cutting-edge innovation.

In issue 40 of Business Events World we continue our focus on Africa.

As I explained last time, The Iceberg has just been the guest of Stellenbosch 360 for its inspiring second Business Tourism Indaba. In Features I present a full photo gallery of the meeting and my wider visit. This includes wine tasting at the House of J. C. Le Roux (teased last issue!), some Stellenbosch town history, plus a trip to the Innovus LaunchLab at Stellenbosch University, with details on two of its star startups. There’s also a companion piece from Intellectual Capitals on how the Greater Cape Town area is developing as Africa’s Tech capital.

In News (click the right arrow)… the Cape Town & Western Cape Convention Bureau has secured nine new events bringing in 9,300 delegates and R336 million. The economic impact of meetings confirmed by the Business Events Cairns and Great Barrier Reef team has doubled to AU$111. A BESarawak Alliance is launching to promote meetings in Malaysia, where the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre staged 638 events in the first six months of 2018. Dubai Business Events wins are up 29 percent over the same period. Edinburgh will be hosting the prestigious 2019 TEDSummit.

Cvent has just released its annual lists of top meetings destinations. It also says event budgets are on the rise. For the first time in ten years, UFI says the exhibition industry’s four global regions are all reporting positive turnover growth. MPI’s latest Meetings Outlook highlights four current industry trends. The Melbourne Convention Bureau has secured a major business award through the legacy impact of the AIDS 2014 conference, and ICC Sydney’s water recycling has now saved the use of over a million plastic bottles.

There’s still more on The Iceberg itself (click View all News). South Africa’s business events sector was in bullish voice at the SAACI congress in Johannesburg. Confusion surrounds the funding of a major convention centre development near Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls. Russia’s St Petersburg has won the 25th running of the World Energy Congress for 2022. As the presidency of the European Council rotates to Austria, Austria Center Vienna will be hosting Council meetings. 2018 sees the Royal College of Physicians in London marking five hundred years of hosting events, and the State Library of Victoria in Australia is opening a dedicated new event space. Conference spending by the United States federal government has dropped, but the US does lead the Eventex All-Stars Top 20 Destinations for hosting Meetings and Events.

In Opinions (again clicking the right arrow) you’ll find the recent AIPC Annual Congress, a tale of two US cities trying to keep the welcome mat out despite that travel ban, why face-to-face is like a group describing an elephant in the dark, the 2018 M&IT Agency Challenge, Convene’s annual Best in Show list, and an UFI view on what we can read into the state of venue development around the world. Plus… how our good friend Alessandro Cortese of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) counts meetings legacy in terms of lives saved.

And in Research (still clicking the right arrow!) you’ll now find Northstar’s The Experiential Difference, UFI’s Global Exhibition Barometer 21st Edition (July 2018), and A Report from the IMEX Policy Forum 2018.

Until the next time…

Robert Coren, Curator of The Iceberg


Your humble Iceberg curator at the Stellebosch Business Tourism Indaba.

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