The 6th annual Hotel Investment Conference Africa (HICA) will take place from 9 to 11 May at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban, South Africa. In response to the current economic climate HICA 2012 will have a special focus on the “how to” aspects of the hotel business. From discussions on renegotiating hotel debt to building and operating green hotels, HICA will take an in-depth look at optimal ways in which hotel businesses can be sustainable.

The Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) will again be holding educational sessions during Meetings Africa.

Almost 200 international buyers from around the world are expected to attend Meetings Africa 2012, which takes place at the Sandton Convention Centre from 28 February to 1 March 2012 and features the cream of Africa’s conference, meeting, exhibition and events businesses. In order to capitalise on this interest, exhibitors are encouraged to take advantage of the customised Business Matchmaking^TM System, which is now live, to set up and plan their meetings in advance.

Sue Hurdle, Chief Executive of the Travel Foundation, describes sustainable tourism as creating a balance in the tourism industry so that the business creates profit for itself, the customer has a great time, and the people and the environment in the destination continue to thrive.

Put simply then, sustainable tourism means holidays that are good for local communities, the environment, holidaymakers and tourism businesses.

The main function of the Travel Foundation is to work towards helping the UK outbound tourism industry become more sustainable, As such, they are involved in projects all over the world.

It’s easy to lose site of the fact that, as a business, people are your greatest investment. In these days of staff cutbacks, limited budgets and reduced profitability, it is worth acknowledging that you need your team to keep the business going. You also need your team to be positive, de-stressed and motivated. But how do you do that when money is tight and time is even tighter?

The traditional mindset is that a cocktail is served in a glass, shaken or stirred, on the rocks or neat and served with a cheesy smile by any bartending impersonator with no intention of blowing your mind... But what if it was served in a test tube, spherified or foamed, flaming or in suspended animation, served by enthusiastic, out-of-the-box thinking mixologists with a warped mindset to the ordinary cocktail methodology… 

We know that the food is often what makes or breaks a conference or an event, and is always an important component of the whole conference experience for delegates. Some of these trends – such as children’s nutrition – obviously don’t really play a role in conference cuisine but some of them are very relevant and give you an indication of the type of food and menus you are likely to experience during 2012.

The Protea Hospitality Group has started a roll-out across South Africa of a purified water system that will replace bottled mineral water in their conferencing venues and ultimately save millions of plastic bottles from ending up in landfills.

The NTB Networking Event is coming up soon…