TBCSA Joins Forces with Bench Events to Host the Hospitality Investment Conference Africa

The Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) has joined forces with UK-based Bench Events, to organise and convene the annual Hospitality Investment Conference Africa (HICA) from 2011 onwards. As part of the partnership agreement, the event will be renamed the Hotel Investment Conference Africa.

HICA 2010 is scheduled to take place at the Sandton Sun Hotel, in Johannesburg, from 31 October to 2 November and the main theme for this year’s conference is ‘Sustainable Growth of Africa’s Hotel Market Share’.

In 2011 the conference will be hosted in Casablanca, Morocco from 26 to 27 September, with the event returning back to South Africa in 2012. TBCSA Chief Executive Officer Mmatšatši Marobe says the objective of the partnership is to grow the HICA platform to cover the rest of Africa, thereby helping to develop the hotel and hospitality sector on the continent.

“The partnership with Bench Events will help grow HICA into one of the foremost hospitality investment conferences in the world, as they bring considerable expertise and valuable industry networks to the event”. HICA joins a list of prestigious hotel investment conferences managed by Bench Events and its partners, namely: the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) in Berlin, the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) in Dubai, the Russian & CIS Hotel Investment Conference (RHIC) in MOSCOW , as well as the Central Asia and Turkey Hotel Investment Conference (CATHIC) in Istanbul.

Over the past 12 years Bench Events has become a key player in the international hotel investment arena, staging conferences in Russia, Turkey, Germany and Dubai on an annual basis. These conferences are attended by leaders and decision-makers representing the hotel and investment community from across the world.

Marobe says Bench Events will bring international hospitality brands that are keen to spread their footprint in Africa to HICA. “We have a wealth of knowledge and this can only go further if we continue to partner with others in the world to maintain continuity and growth.”

Joop Demes, Chief Executive Officer of Pam Golding Hospitality concurs. “We are proud to see that HICA has grown to such a level that we can partner with international players such as Bench Events. Considering that among other conferences they organise, IHIF in Berlin has been running successfully for the past 13 years, this partnership will indeed give HICA greater exposure and significance in the global arena”, he said.

In terms of the agreement the TBCSA, as the founder of HICA, will remain an active partner of the event, even when it takes place outside South Africa.

Bench Events will take over the management and organisation of the conference, while the TBCSA will convene and chair the HICA advisory board and work on programme/ topics to be discussed and speakers to be invited. Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of Bench Events says: “We are delighted to be involved in this new venture with the TBCSA, who have developed the leading hotel investment conference in Africa. We see significant potential to use HICA as a catalyst for investment, networking and best practice as we do with our other events in Europe and the Middle East”.

Registrations for HICA 2010 are still open. To register or to find out more about the conference, view the high calibre speaker line up and program, delegates must visit the HICA website on .

Matthew Weihs
+44 (0)1372 466 209
The Bench