Durban, South Africa – Durban used its COP17 host city status to position itself and the province of KwaZulu-Natal as a conference and business tourism destination.
The Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau was admitted earlier this year as a member of the Future Convention Cities Initiative (FCCI), joining cities including Sydney, San Francisco, Seoul, London, Abu Dhabi and Toronto regarded as world-class conferencing cities.
The port city’s Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre complex (ICC plus Durban Exhibition Centre) was ground zero for the 20,000 accredited negotiators, delegates, media, civil society groups, scientists, government delegations and others in South Africa for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol (CMP7), which kicked off on November 28 and ended a day later than scheduled, on December 10, after parties could not reach consensus on a way forward.
Economic development and tourism MEC Michael Mabuyakhulu officially opened a city FCCI pavilion at uShaka Marine World on the Durban beachfront during COP17.
The pavilion was used as a venue to spotlight business facilities — and getaways potentially attractive to delegates — in KwaZulu-Natal’s various regions. Durban is gateway to KwaZulu-Natal game parks, mountains, battlefields, beaches and more. Other provincial cities and business facilities in Mozambique and Swaziland were also showcased at the pavilion. And brochures were given out supporting fellow FCCI members Sydney and Seoul.
Mabuyakhulu announced that the Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau had won 20 significant conference bids for the city and province during the 15 months since it was set up. The biggest after COP17 (not listed among the 20 as Durban won its bid for COP before this bureau was set up) is expected to be the Union of Architects Conference scheduled for 2014.
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