THE MICE tourism industry
could propel growth in African
aviation, Rick Taylor, ceo
of The Business Tourism
Company, told the AviaDev
Africa 2019 conference.
He was commenting on
AviaDev md Jon Howell’s
statement that the potential
revenue from new African
routes could yield US$28,7bn
(R411bn) if African airlines
started serving the 66,3% of
the continent that is unserved.
Rick said the MICE
sector in Africa was valued
at US$194bn (R2,8trn)
compared with US$1,3 trillion
(R18,6trn) globally, indicating
its “enormous potential”.
“International MICE delegates
spend US$366 (R5 245) pp
per day in Africa. An event
like this conference generates
US$384 000 (R5,5m) for
the local economy when 200
delegates each spend US$300
(R4 300) per day. The MICE
sector is still under-valued in
Africa, but things are changing,
with new convention bureaus
having opened up in Rwanda
and Uganda, for example.”
African governments should
appreciate the value of MICE
tourism, because up to 17% of
business and event travellers
brought along their partners
and up to 38% were likely to
become repeat leisure tourists
if there was a Customer
Relationship Management
strategy by the convention
bureau, said Rick.
