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Are DMOs the Key to Developing Business Tourism in South Africa and Africa?

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Transcending Borders in Tourism Through Innovation and Cultural Heritage

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

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Abstract

Business tourism is a lucrative, fast-growing segment in tourism, known as the world’s largest industry sector. Countries rely heavily on investment in infrastructure to support the development of the business tourism sector and to ensure sustained growth, and many destinations use Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) and Convention Bureaus (CBs) to provide leadership. These organisations are also tasked to actively promote the destination for leisure travel such as cultural tourism, ecotourism, and activities, and it’s necessary to understand the distinct requirements that set business tourism development and promotion apart from leisure tourism. South Africa has tremendous opportunity, with both urban and off-the-beaten-track attractions to attract meeting and convention traffic to the continent, but what is hindering us, and is there a simple solution to this problem? Multi-method qualitative research was employed to investigate the roles and functions that DMOs perform to develop business tourism at four major conference centres across destinations in South Africa. This included understanding the challenges faced within the varied destinations. Data was collected through interviews with a sample of nine major DMOs at various levels in the country. Strategic documents and website content were also analysed as a supplement to the primary data. Results revealed the importance of especially DMO stakeholder engagement, marketing, identification of opportunities to host business tourism events within the destination, and bidding support as the main roles and functions that need to be performed to ensure sustained growth of business tourism in South Africa. Recommendations are made in the form of an innovative business tourism framework depicting the interaction between DMOs at the national, regional, and local levels, and with the various industry stakeholders for cities conference centres/off-the-beaten-track locations to be used in the future.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unisa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Nosiphiwo Mahlangu

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  1. Nosiphiwo Mahlangu
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of West Attica, Athens, Greece

    Vicky Katsoni

  2. Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania

    Andreea Claudia Şerban

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Mahlangu, N. (2022). Are DMOs the Key to Developing Business Tourism in South Africa and Africa?. In: Katsoni, V., Şerban, A.C. (eds) Transcending Borders in Tourism Through Innovation and Cultural Heritage. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92491-1_16

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