A number of people interested in business tourism, the purview of the very successful Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau, gathered at a workshop last week and were guided in discussion by two visiting American experts in this field.
Business tourism is a highly competitive field and many cities throughout the world have invested heavily in bureaux to solicit business and academic conferences.
Here, Cape Town and Joburg are significant rivals for international attention. Cape Town, in particular, is often perceived by business people to be more attractive as a venue than our city.
It is common, for example, for visiting business delegations, if they come to Durban at all, to come here for a couple of days prior to flying to Cape Town where they spend the weekend before returning to their home countries.
At the very heart of the efforts that we have to make to change this trend, is to appreciate fully what it is that business tourists value most in the venues they visit. They do not have time, generally, to enjoy many of the things that draw leisure tourists, although they need relaxation after a day’s meeting and if they can be persuaded to stay a few days longer, that’s when we need to have the kind of offering that will prove irresistible.
With the exception of a few – far too few – notable spots, our after-dark activities lack excitement and are sometimes non-existent. Recently, a visiting business group arrived by air quite late in the evening, and could not find a place to get a meal. They were Korean, and where they come from, they are accustomed to finding hospitality traders busy at any hour of the day or night.
Our city is a daylight city, by and large, and that’s simply not good enough. For the fun and sun-seeker, we have a good deal to offer, but there is little comprehensive packaging which highlights our unique strengths.
We don’t always do it, but we have the potential to balance professional efficiency, slickness and just enough formality with the relaxed outlook that characterises Durban.
East Coast Radio has called this unhurried, somewhat informal and fun-loving lifestyle “Funsunzi”. It is a strong selling point for men and women in formal dress spending hours in formal conferences.
The point was made at the workshop that great cities have symbolic structures which represent them. We have them. Just how powerful they are remains to be seen, but if we don’t recognise them ourselves, there is very little chance that anyone else will.
To some, Moses Mabhida Stadium is such a symbol because it is a stunning piece of stadium architecture. To others, it is a sports arena and we should not look beyond this to categorise it. No one in the workshop mentioned Dube, perhaps because the TradePort and the King Shaka airport are considered to be no more than good examples of the facilities that they offer.
President Zuma formally opened the Dube TradePort last week and in doing so, revealed something of a well-kept secret. Many in business have a sense that the project, and particularly its various milestones, should have been better marketed.
As a logistics hub – logistics is assuming unparalleled importance in contemporary economics – it is a shining example and will do more than we can imagine at present to enhance the provincial and national economy. It was just a pipe dream to many when it was conceived more than a decade and a half ago, but now it is operational and will grow apace. Is it a symbolic structure? Not quite, but the aerotropolis that is to characterise Dube in the future certainly will be.
The American facilitators asked whether we had pride in our city. Some said yes, some said no. Many letters in the daily press provide a clue as to how much pride we have as citizens of Durban. Many of us like nothing better than to complain and criticise. Perhaps it’s the same among the residents of any city in the world, but it’s not a good starting point when you want others to admire your city enough to want to visit it.
