Durban ICC’S 20-year milestone
THE INKOSI Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (Durban ICC) will celebrate two decades of excellence since the official opening by former President Nelson Mandela on August 8, 1997.
Durban was the first South African city to establish an international convention centre and was the trailblazer in the growth and development of the business tourism industry in the country
In the past 20 years, the ICC has won Africa’s Leading Meetings and Conference Centre 15 times in 16 years of participating at the World Travel Awards.
This self-sustaining entity of the ethekwini Municipality was ranked number 15 by the International Association of Congress Centres and is currently the only centre in Africa to make it onto this list. Among the numerous events which positioned the Durban ICC on global conferencing include the World Economic Forum on Africa, 21stinternational Aids Conference, COP17/21, Tourism Indaba, 4th Brics International Competition Conference, 14th World Forestry Congress, Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture Africa 2015 and transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU).
Currently the ICC is preparing to host the 38th International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) Conference in 2018 after Durban was selected as the host city. The event is expected to attract over 1 200 environmental experts from 87 countries.
The ICC is a catalyst for socio-economic growth – the ICC’S cumulative contribution to the GDP of Kwazulunatal over the past decade was R27.8 billion while R29.4bn went to South Africa’s GDP.