On the busy floor of IMEX Frankfurt 2026, Africa Meets caught up with Corné Koch, the Chief Convention Bureau Officer of the South African National Convention Bureau (SANCB).
Six months into her tenure, Koch has hit the ground running during the peak of South Africa’s MICE calendar. In this exclusive interview, she opens up about balancing legacy trade exhibitions like Africa’s Travel Indaba, expanding the definition of event sustainability, capitalising on the newly released ICCA rankings, and using major sport properties like the upcoming Cricket World Cup to drive regional pan-African tourism growth.
On First Six Months and Navigating Peak Season
Africa Meets: You are officially six months into the job. How has the journey been for you so far?
Corné Koch: It has been wonderful, but incredibly busy! I started at a time when we were simultaneously planning our two massive annual trade shows (Meetings Africa and Africa’s Travel Indaba). That makes it quite intense to focus on initiatives outside of managing these primary trade platforms for South African Tourism. They are exceptionally critical platforms for our sector.
But it has been a fantastic journey. I am looking forward to what is to come and continuing to grow these trade shows. We absolutely need them for our strategic positioning — not just for South Africa’s industry, but for the entire continent. We are highly focused on using these platforms to drive tourism growth right across South Africa and the broader African region.
Africa Meets: Taking over during these last six months, what is your initial overview of the current state of the MICE and business events sector in South Africa?
Corné Koch: We have been very fortunate with our timing. The period I started aligned perfectly with the high season for MICE in South Africa, which runs through our summer. If you look at our current numbers, hotel occupancy rates are high, and the frequency of conferences and events taking place across the country is dense. There is a massive influx.
That said, there is still plenty of work to be done to attract more international meetings. It is not just about the volume of international meetings; it is about looking at the overall sizing. The mega-conferences do not come along every day. Because of that, you have to maintain a sharp focus on the domestic market, the frequency of those smaller events, and ensuring we capture that consistent business.
Redefining MICE Sustainability as a “360-Degree Framework”
Africa Meets: You mentioned the word “sustainability.” South Africa has been incredibly deliberate about this for over a decade, integrating it into major events. What has been the feedback and the real-world impact so far?
Corné Koch: To be completely honest, I think we have still only scratched the surface. I am not yet entirely satisfied that we have reached our full potential. For Africa’s Travel Indaba specifically, our event management partners teamed up with the Event Greening Forum (EGF) of South Africa to conduct a rigorous benchmark study. This allows us to measure the exact environmental footprint of the event and use that data as a concrete baseline. We want to go back to the industry next year and say, “This year we used this much water or generated this much waste. How can we collectively improve?”
Exhibitions and large trade platforms are wonderful, but by nature, they consume a lot of resources. It is our responsibility as a global industry — not just South Africa — to provide practical guidelines to exhibitors and visitors. Beyond that, we have many local hospitality products that already have incredible sustainability stories regarding water security and waste management. A key priority for us moving forward is collecting these stories and marketing them properly through our international channels.
Africa Meets: I remember that when the SANCB brings in international hosted buyers, you used to hand out physical tokens or “chips” for them to spend at the localised SME villages at the venue to trigger immediate micro-purchases. Have you received structured feedback on how that has impacted those small enterprises?
Corné Koch: We are working on collecting more consistent data on that front. But this touches on a vital point: in my mind, sustainability is not strictly an environmental conversation. It is a 360-degree framework that must include business sustainability.
Through the National Department of Tourism, we run an incubation and market-access incentive project. This project financially supports smaller, localised tourism businesses so they can transition from regional platforms to the ITBs of the world, and then to Indaba. It is our fundamental responsibility to check back in with these SMMEs and ask, “Have you converted leads? Have you secured direct business from being on this platform?” You cannot invest heavily in these programs without checking the back-end conversion. Otherwise, those small businesses go out of business, and that is fundamentally unsustainable.
Decentralisation: Pushing Beyond the Golden Triangle
Africa Meets: The official 2025 ICCA GlobeWatch rankings were unveiled here at IMEX Frankfurt, and South Africa is holding onto its top spot on the continent. What are your initial thoughts on the data?
Corné Koch: We are always incredibly pleased to see South Africa feature strongly in the rankings. However, we always have to contextualise the ICCA data in two ways. Globally, our national ranking sits around 36th or 39th — which highlights how much global market share we still need to fight for. Secondly, we must remember that ICCA strictly measures one specific index: international association meetings rotating among at least three countries. It does not capture the massive volume of corporate, incentive, or non-rotating events.
That said, it is a brilliant tool that heavily reinforces our international marketing efforts and helps us align with key academic and industrial sectors. What the live data shows us right now is fascinating granular detail: we are seeing qualifying international association meetings popping up entirely outside our main traditional centres of Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. We are seeing verified meetings happening in Paarl, Stellenbosch, and right in the Kruger National Park.
Africa Meets: Is the Convention Bureau being highly deliberate about that? Is moving events out of the primary provincial capitals part of your core strategy?
Corné Koch: Absolutely. It is a deliberate, targeted strategy to drive regional geographic dispersal. We have a dedicated subvention and incentive program specifically designed to support international association planners who wish to take their business events outside of the main city centres. We actively incentivise them to move their events into our smaller towns, secondary cities, and townships. By doing this, we directly stimulate local economies and spread the financial impact of the MICE sector into the regions that need it most.
Gearing Up for the 2027 Cricket World Cup
Africa Meets: Looking ahead, South Africa is co-hosting the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup alongside Zimbabwe and Namibia. What are the SANCB’s expectations, and how are you supporting this mega-project?
Corné Koch: This is a comprehensive, “whole-of-tourism” approach. The operational plans with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) are actively ramping up at the moment. As an entity, our role is to gear up with targeted content marketing and private sector alignment. A mega-event of this scale requires a much larger corporate effort than just a tourism DMO team working in isolation.
The SANCB will sit directly on the Local Organising Committee. This position allows us to directly influence the tourism narrative, shape the auxiliary event programming, and deploy bespoke marketing campaigns targeted at specific international ticketing markets. Crucially, we will be working hand-in-hand with our African counterparts and regional neighbours who are co-hosting. We view this as a collective, pan-African triumph that will spotlight the entire region’s capacity for world-class event logistics.
Projections, Innovation, and Billion-Rand Infrastructure Plays
Africa Meets: We are halfway through the calendar year. What is your current projection for MICE in South Africa? Beyond the growth numbers, how do you plan to innovate and keep the market excited?
Corné Koch: To drive innovation, we need to focus on two or three strategic areas. First, we need to firmly reaffirm the massive tourism investment products coming online across South Africa. These are not just standard properties; they are serious economic engines. For example, a major top-tier investment property is opening this August on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, serving as a massive economic incubator for that entire region. It is built for leisure, but it will heavily drive our MICE pipeline.
Simultaneously, we are looking at a staggering 21-billion-rand investment into the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town over the next few years. This massive capital injection will completely transform and incubate that entire precinct. These developments place a fresh global spotlight on South Africa, and the Bureau plans to leverage that infrastructure momentum directly to influence international event planners.
Secondly, we are adopting a completely fresh approach to our international bidding strategy. We are moving away from traditional positioning to lift up our elite innovation centres, our leading academic institutions, and our national thought leaders. We want our marketing to lead with intellectual capital.
Africa Meets: And how are those targets looking on paper right now?
Corné Koch: Our conversion metrics and the general rhythm of our bidding pipeline are holding very steady compared to this time last year. Our financial year actually runs from April, so we are early in our reporting cycle, but year-on-year growth is tracking upward by about 1% to 2%. It is a steady climb, and we are working hard to collect deeper, more granular data to ensure we fully understand the broader, evolving market picture.
Airlift Dynamics and Navigating Global Geopolitics
Africa Meets: Finally, let’s talk about partnerships. In the past, the SANCB has been very successful in collaborating with airlines to secure vital air access. How are things progressing on the aviation front?
Corné Koch: It is going exceptionally well. We are currently revisiting our strategic partnerships with local and regional tourism associations to ensure there is a much higher, measurable return on investment (ROI) for both South African Tourism and our private sector operators.
On the aviation side, air access is managed through our broader parent entity at South African Tourism. We maintain a very close, structural alignment with South African Airways (SAA) as our national flag carrier. Concurrently, our forward-looking strategy focuses on opening doors with global airlines from critical markets where we do not yet have direct, adequate air links — specifically targeting India and China. These are vital pipelines for our long-term growth.
Africa Meets: That air connectivity is particularly critical right now, especially given the ongoing flight disruptions and geopolitical shifts in the Middle East. It gives South Africa a unique window to position itself as a secure, direct gateway.
Corné Koch: Absolutely, we naturally look to leverage our position, but we also have to be realistic — global airline fees remain very expensive across the board. The real secret to leveraging these shifts isn’t just about waiting for a geopolitical opening; it is about how creatively you market your destination’s baseline value proposition.
We do not want to frame our growth as a win resulting from global conflict. We are tourism professionals, and we understand that these disruptions make things difficult for everyone globally. Instead, our strategy focuses on promoting the premium, unmatched experiences you can only get in South Africa — our world-class culinary scene, our diverse culture, our remarkable people, and our position as the ultimate, trusted connection hub to the rest of the African continent.
Africa Meets: Corné, thank you so much for your time.
Corné Koch: You are very welcome!
