The Airports Company of South Africa’s Mr Deon Cloete, General Manager of Cape Town International Airport, spoke to MICExchange at INDABA 2014, where he commented on the success of Airports Company South Africa and how business tourism played a critical part in their success. An essential part of the airports success according to Mr Cloete was that “… we have a dedicated convention bureau just making sure these events are attracted and the essential support structures do exist to ensure their success.”
Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) operates this country’s ten principal airports, including O.R. Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) in Johannesburg as well as Cape Town and Durban International Airports. ACSA is the largest airports authority in Africa. Together, our airports handle more than 200,000 aircraft landings and 23 million arriving and departing passengers annually. The airports company is itself a success story having been transformed from a public utility subsidised by government to a commercial entity with a turnover in excess of R4 billion per year.
Airports Company of South Africa, Cape Town International Airport has consequently become Africa’s third largest airport and Africa’s premier tourist and VIP destination where it has established a reputation as among the best in the world for service in its category. Since the new century began, Cape Town International Airport has seen enormous growth, handling 6.2 million passengers in 2004/05 and rising to over 8 million by 2011/12.
Mr Cloete said, ”… we rely a lot on business and business tourism [where] conferences, meetings [play] a critical and integral part – particularly in those months when we are not as busy as we would be and we have seen [a number of international conferences} that have been extremely successful.”
Cape Town International Airport has once again been awarded the Best Airport in Africa and the Best Airport in Africa for Staff Service Excellence at the SKYTRAX World Airport Awards held on 10 April 2013. The announcement comes weeks after the airport was awarded the Best Airport in Africa award by Airports Council International.
