L ast November Johannesburg Expo Centre JEC hosted the 84th UFI Con gress at Sandton Convention Centre We have certainly felt a positive shift in a short space of time following the UFI conference Craig Newman makes a prelim inary assessment The conference generated a positive sentiment reports the CEO of the JEC who will take over at the helm as UFI president for a year this November This re sulted in a sharp focus and interest in South Africa as an exhibition organiser s destina tion he singles out requests for consultation considering South Africa as a possible desti nation To be a successful player Johannes burg Expo Centre is pursuing a clear strategy and key goal We want to be the preeminent exhibition and conference facility for the lo cal Meetings Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions MICE industries in Africa says Newman adding But also a sought after destination for international business In the long run such ambitious goals can only be achieved with a satisfied clientele Hence customer needs automatically take centre stage This is why the JEC continu ously looks to improve and enhance its facil ities says Craig Newman Our intention is to set ourselves apart from the rest The JEC s unique features include a monorail a lake a mini golf course and a helipad In ad dition to this hardware the centre is also honing its soft factors i e the quality of its services All events no matter how big or small are treated with the same level of serv ice promises Newman Due to its economic situation South Africa currently has some tough nuts to crack The state of exhibitions in this coun try is undoubtedly in a healthy place but our industry is not immune to the ebb and flow of the economy says Craig Newman Nev ertheless we are working hard to ensure business as usual at the JEC he proudly points out the jam packed calendar His ex pectations for the near future are also opti mistic We look forward to an increase in in ternational interest in South Africa as an ex hibition and conference destination says Newman Of course there are challenges that need to be addressed from the country s political perspective but there is certainly an appetite He believes that South Africa s ex cellent track record in delivering successful events no matter the size and its infrastruc ture make it enticing for foreign investors International exhibition brands already have a presence at the JEC They include Messe Frankfurt s Automechanika for the au tomotive service industry and the Interbuild for the construction industry And another top event Electra Mining which was already launched 46 years ago Its recent edition was a five day event lasting until 14 September incorporating the trade shows Elenex Africa Powerex and Transport Expo into Electra Mining Craig Newman believes that organis ers should be looking at the health finance and education sectors for opportunities Plus Growing industries like ports and harbours agriculture and fishing as well as food secu rity are also mushrooming throughout South Africa at the moment www expocentre co za PB 32 TradeFairs Internation al 3 2018 INTERNATIONAL SOUTH AFRICA There s an appetite Economically speaking things could be better for the rain bow nation But the exhibition industry is optimistic about the future as this example from Johannesburg goes to show Craig Newman sieht einen schärferen Fokus auf Südafrika als Messe Austra gungsort Craig Newman sees a stronger focus on South Africa as a trade fair destination Ph ot o J EC

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