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AviaDev, the African aviation development conference, will take place in Cape Town in June.
The networking event, which is entering its third year of growth, initially took place in Kigali, alongside the African Hotel Investment Forum, AHIF, and explored the link between Aviation and Hospitality development.
Bench Events, AviaDev’s organiser, expects to welcome 250-300 delegates and 30 airlines to the forum, the only one dedicated to advancing Africa’s connectivity right across the continent.
Bringing together airports, airlines, tourism authorities, governments and industry suppliers, AviaDev gives attendees the opportunity to pre-arrange meetings in professional surroundings, and hold high-level discussions with a wide range of current and prospective partners in a time-efficient manner.
Iata has identified that the top 10 fastest growing aviation economies over the next 20 years will all be in Africa and AviaDev aims to facilitate this growth through its world-class conference programme, meeting system and unrivalled networking opportunities.
The principal conversations at AviaDev will take place between the top management of airports and airlines. The airports (and the destinations they serve) are looking to attract new routes, something that is beneficial to the wider economy and airlines are evaluating which destinations will be most profitable to add to their network. As the destinations are effectively promoting themselves to the carriers, the destinations will man exhibition stands at which they will host pre-scheduled discussions with different airline executives. There will be space for industry suppliers to exhibit too.
A major factor behind the move to Cape Town has been the sponsorship of the Cape Town Air Access Initiative. This has made aviation route development a strategic priority in its own efforts to promote the region as a destination to visit and to conduct business. In the past year, Cape Town has gained 10 new routes and seen expansion of an additional 11 routes, resulting in a 25% increase in international passenger numbers for 2017.
Tim Harris, CEO, Wesgro, said: “I am very pleased that Cape Town will host AviaDev this year, coinciding with the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth, the naming, by Skytrax, of Cape Town International as the best airport in Africa and news that Cape Town is Africa’s top destination for business tourism.”
Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, Western Cape Government, welcomed the hosting of the conference in Cape Town, due to the strategic importance of its agenda: “Boosting connectivity between African destinations is good for business and good for tourism, both of which create jobs for residents.
“The Cape Town Air Access initiative has already made significant strides in growing the number of travellers arriving at our world-class airport and this conference will provide us with a platform to further expand our networks. The tourism sector in the Western Cape is already a large-scale employer, with massive potential for growth. We believe that growing connectivity with the rest of Africa will help us unlock that potential.”
AviaDev will take place at the Southern Sun Cape Sun on June 12-14. In parallel, Bench Events will also run a regional AHIF briefing, which will attract the hotel investment community, who will be keen to join discussions about which African destinations will be the highest priority for more aviation traffic.
Source: tourismupdate.co.za