SA’S leading business destinations
The country’s tourism sector has grown, offering a world-class experience and high-end venues for events, holidays
Since the dawn of democracy in SA, business tourism has experienced significant growth. The past decade, in particular, has had exponential growth as local and international meetings, conferences and exhibitions flock to SA, attracted by the sophisticated world-class facilities on offer.
SA is at number 34 in the International Congress & Convention Associations’ (ICCA) global ranking — which represents the global meetings industry — and is the number one convention destination in Africa and the Middle East.
The business tourism sector has had significant growth since 1994. In 1995 it was estimated to be worth about R2.6bn.
Estimations are that business tourism contributed R115bn to the SA economy in 2018. Since 1994 the number of venues has had similar growth, with a number of these venues having capacity for more than 1,000 delegates.
SA’S main business centres, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, are all popular business tourism destinations.
The City of Gold
A major economic and cultural African hub, Johannesburg is a significant employer and generator of SA’S GDP.
It is the financial capital of SA and is the African corporate headquarters to 74% of large multinational companies.
The city was rated as the thirdbest city to do business in Africa by Pwc’s inaugural “Into Africa” report, and is SA’S leading business destination for business travellers.
It offers world-class infrastructure including two international airports, the high-speed Gautrain, good road infrastructure, a wide range of quality accommodation options and meeting venues.
About 55 local and international
What it means: SA’S friendliest city
SA has become a leader in the continent with its array of worldclass tourist and business destinations The vibrant city of Durban has consistently proved itself to be a world-class business and meetings destination with world-class infrastructure, accommodation options and numerous meeting and conference venues.
It is renowned for its warm hospitality and rich cultural diversity.
The state-of-the-art King Shaka