Page 12 - Meetings Botswana 2020

INTRODUCTION
Gobusamang Keebine.
Evan Harrington General Manager Hilton Garden Inn, Gaborone.
Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) to come on board to play its vital role.”
Already work is underway, according to Keebine.
“Business tourism opportunities reside with the private sector, and to that extent we have created a team made up of major hotels, lodges, tour operators, travel agents, the arts and crafts industry, airlines, the diamond sector, transport representatives, etc, in order to streamline and begin working on the promotion of the MICE sector.”
Starting with the initial MICE symposium last June, Keebine said the aim was both to generate interest and educate interested parties about the extent of the MICE sector.
“Our endeavours remain a work in progress, but we hope to engage with the BTO, Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment, transport and finance ministries,” he said. “We hold the view that for MICE to work, the entities who hold the purse strings must participate and buy in to the concept.”
On the need for specific marketing for the burgeoning MICE sector, Keebine emphasised that any new body would benchmark the activities of other African success stories and replicate those suited to the Botswana model.
“The initial target will be regional meetings and conferences – SADC, UNDP, EU official meetings – but long term, Botswana must bid to host international sporting events and conferences,” he said.
“Gaborone will remain the centre for medium to large conferences, and perhaps Francistown in five years or so, while Palapye is positioning itself to cater for academic meetings through its Botswana International University of Science & Technology campus and the upgrading of the border between Botswana and South Africa in that area.”
In addition, Keebine said potential lies in the promotion of multi-centre itineraries to cater to global incentive requirements: “One way to ensure MICE works with relation to the overseas markets is to offer the option of multi-destination packages that could be inclusive of Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana,” he said.
On this wish list are more fifth freedom rights for airlines, better airport facilities and collaborations with South Africa, for instance, on areas such as luxury train routes.
THE GLOBAL VIEWPOINT
With both Hilton and Minor Hotels’ Avani having launched in the Botswana capital in recent years – joining South Africa’s Peermont – Gaborone’s hospitality sector is seeking to refine its offering to tempt regional and international meetings as a supplement to existing corporate business.
For Peermont, operator of the Grand Palm complex with its two hotels and conference centre, the MICE sector is of vital importance, contributing one-third of hotel and restaurant business in Gaborone, according to marketing manager, Neo Nkele.
“GICC at the Grand Palm opened in 2003 and has hosted an array of meetings, conferences, banquets, product launches and workshops,” he said. “Two-thirds of this business currently is sourced locally, with the remaining coming from South Africa and other international markets.”
Bullish about the prospects of expansion, Nkele said Botswana and Gaborone could benefit from the lure of the ‘new’.
“South Africa and other African destinations have been done and as such it is now time to move the focus on to Botswana as an alternative MICE venue – this would work well with our already established leisure offering,” he said, adding there was potential for groups such as Peermont to develop twin-centre events with regional sister properties.
Joining the fray, the newest global player in the market is the Hilton Garden Inn Gaborone – opened last year with a full array of meeting facilities, according to general manager, Evan Harrington.
“ We have several versatile function spaces and meeting rooms, a poolside terrace and spacious pre-function areas – although it is important to note that although we do have attractive hotel facilities, the city of Gaborone does not currently have a huge MICE contribution when compared to overall booking segments but is largely driven by international business travel,” he said.
“Leisure guests are predominantly staying in the Okavango Delta and Chobe river areas, whereas the capital is driven by the corporate market with many guests coming from the US who are here for NGO work.
“The development of further leisure attractions in the city to make it more of an ‘incentive’ destination as well as improved connectivity via international air carriers would
12 MEETINGS BOTSWANA 2020