By Simon Nare
Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille has called for greater diversification of South Africa’s tourism industry as the sector continues its post-Covid-19 recovery, with a record-breaking 10.5 million international arrivals recorded in 2025.
Speaking at the opening of Meetings Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre on Tuesday, De Lille said the department had significantly invested in tourism infrastructure to strengthen the sector’s resilience and competitiveness.
She also announced the launch of a Tourism Infrastructure Investment Summit, featuring eight bankable projects valued at R1 billion from both the public and private sectors.
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“We continue to build the pipeline ahead of our second investment summit later this year in September,” said De Lille.
She also bragged about the LIV Golf, which is the first on the continent, saying already 74 000 tickets have been sold for the event, with the tee-off scheduled for Sun City in the four-day event.
The minister implored exhibitors and buyers at the two-day event to use it to cement meaningful deals that will. help push-up tourism industry.
The minister announced that in attendance, there were 375 buyers and 325 exhibiting companies with more than 6440 confirmed business meetings.
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“Each of these meetings represents a connection. Each connection represents a possibility. And each possibility represents progress.
“For Meetings Africa 2026, we have 21 African countries represented. Africa, our continent, is also an anchor of South Africa’s record-breaking 10.5 million inbound arrivals in 2025,” she said.
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Over the past 20 years, when the event was launched, she said, it has served to connect the continent to the world and a bridge connecting destinations with investors, partnerships, and opportunity with execution.
“Over the past 3 years alone, the economic impact of Meetings Africa on our own GDP has nearly doubled, from R371 million in 2023 to R690 million in 2025. During this period, Meetings Africa has created and sustained over 2 600 jobs,” she said.
De Lille said the country had proven to be a reputable event host, citing the hosting of the G20 Leadership Summit and having also secured the World Economic Forum’s Special Meeting, which will be taking place next year.
She said this was proof of confidence bestowed on the country by the international community to host meetings, conventions, and exhibitions which she said were aggregators of economic growth and job creation.
The minister also congratulated Rwanda and its High Commissioner Emmanuel Hategeka for securing the hosting rights to the International Congress and Convention Association Congress in 2027, marking the event’s return to Africa after 23 years.
For De Lille, this was a proud moment for Africa as the event was making a return in 23 years and affirmed that the continent was trusted, capable, and competitive.
She said since the beginning of the 2025/26 financial year, the South African National Convention Bureau supported 100 bids for international business events to be hosted in South Africa between 2025 and 2030.