Representatives for Village n Life recently attended the 2019 Meetings Africa trade show in Johannesburg.
The annual trade show event aims to feature and highlight the African continent as a top tourist destination, and this year, Village n Life made sure to attend the prestigious event and showcase all their properties in the most desirable destinations.
Taking place between the 27th to the 29th of February at the Sandton Convention Centre, this year’s event was the largest one yet. Headed by SA Tourism, the event was riddled with top South african tourism and market leaders, exhibiting their products and offerings to dozens of international buyers.
This year, a total of 338 business tourism exhibitors showcased their products, which included 102 exhibitors from 15 African countries, including South Africa. In addition, this year’s event also saw the biggest number of international hosted buyers attend – 462 from 65 different countries around the world.
The event was also attended by South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom.
Meetings Africa 2019 was a wonderful opportunity for Village n Life to network with other African tourism exhibitors, and to showcase their products to a host of international buyers.
Clayton Howard, Group Host Manager for Village n Life Hospitality, attended the event with a couple of his colleagues from the various properties in the Village n Life portfolio. We caught up with him to ask him about Village n Life’s experience at Meetings Africa 2019.
What was the purpose of Village n Life exhibiting at this year’s Meetings Africa trade show?
Even though Village n Life has had one its best summers to date, we always have to stay in touch with all markets and meetings in Africa. With this trade show being Africa’s largest continent grouping of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences & exhibitions) attendees, we opted to exhibit.
Has Village n Life attended this trade show before?
No. This is the first time that Village n Life has exhibited at the event, and we are very happy that we did, as the outcome has been very successful. We met ample new clients – both national and international – and also rekindled several old relationships, with many planned property site inspections.
What was the general feedback on Village n Life?
Many attendees were unaware that we have large event spaces, and that many of our properties can host events, so it was good to fill them in! In addition, the interest for diverse and green events and the angles Village n Life executes was received very positively.
How did Village n Life compare to the other exhibitors and what are the plans with future exhibitions?
Naturally, as a first time exhibitor, we did not know exactly what to expect. However, we were pleasantly surprised at how well our stand was received. We are proud to have planned and executed a well received stand and look forward to developing the MICE brand going forward.
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