Sports & Events Tourism Exchange conference, exhibition in Cape Town

The conference opens with Danny Jordaan, VP of SAFA and includes Fikile Mbalula, Minister of Sport & Recreation, Derek Casey, former CEO of the UK Sports Council and Sport England and will other international speakers from sports management, tourism, sports sponsorship, branding and political science. It will be chaired by Professor Kamilla Swart, associate professor in the Faculty of Business and head of the Centre for Tourism Research in Africa at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

"SETE will provide exhibitors and visitors with a unique platform to network and interact with both local and international industry leaders," says Carol Weaving, MD of Thebe Exhibitions and Projects Group (TEPG). TEPG, along with SA Tourism (SAT) and Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA), will be co-hosting SETE.

To further facilitate the promotion of South Africa as the country of choice for sporting events, the event will offer a comprehensive international hosted buyer's programme. This programme, funded by the dti and SAT, will allow international buyers to meet exhibitors through pre-scheduled meetings, conference sessions and networking events. The key objective of the programme is to connect international buyers with local service providers and product owners.

"For any service and product provider who is interested in the new trend of sports tourism, SETE is an excellent choice to start the networking process and learn about this emerging industry," notes Manase Makwela, SRSA director of marketing and communications. "Exhibitors can showcase their companies and launch new products to potential buyers, generate high quality leads and reach key influencers and decision makers. A broad spectrum of organisations involved in the sports, events and tourism industry will benefit from SETE and the exhibition will ensure that they can take advantage of this exciting fledgling market."

"The inaugural event is the culmination of research and planning and promises to be a success, with a line up of international speakers and role players already committed and many more certain to sign up in the next few weeks. Sports and event tourism is going to play a big role in ensuring the tourism industry meets its job creation and arrivals targets over the next five years," concludes Sugen Pillay, global manager for events, South African Tourism.

For more information, go to www.sportsandevents.co.za.