South Africa Tourism is building a serious pitch for discussions and incentives from Asia as it make towards the 2010 FIFA World Cup in June. This was its point at Meetings Africa, which get place at Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg from February 24 to 26.

The trade show aspect 272 exhibitors, which organizers said was an increase of 12.5% over 2009. There were also 123 international buyers at the occasion, including an allocation of 12 from China.

M Y Chung, process manager of Westminster Travel, Hong Kong, said: “South Africa is a high-potential purpose. My business events groups actually want to know more about the diverse cultures here. It is so special from what we see in Asian place.” Meetings Africa 2010 located a strong importance on the global associations market, highlighting the country’s meeting centers and hotel facilities, particularly in the country’s financial centre of Johannesburg and coastal city of Cape Town.

Sandton Convention Center’s broad manager of sales and marketing, Karin White, said: “This event presents a great opportunity to network and learn and, this year in exacting, should be used as a platform to plan for the stage after the 2010 FIFA World Cup.” In addition to Meetings Africa, a high-profile peak was also detained between tourism ministers of the G20 countries and the UN World Tourism Organisation.