Cape Town's world-wide reputation as a much sought-after tourist destination with sophisticated accommodation and first-rate infrastructure often plays a decisive role when bidding for an international conference and in finally securing that conference for South Africa and Africa.

This is once again the case with two of the most recent bids won by Cape Town and the Western Cape: the European Hepato_Pancreatico_Biliary Association (EHPBA) biannual congress and the International Conference on Near Infrared Spectroscopy - both to take place in 2011. Together these two events are expected to attract 1 500 business tourists and an estimated R11,6 million to Cape Town and the Western Cape.

This follows the destination's winning of another bid for 2011, where the city will host the Sixth Science Centre World Congress. This congress will bring 800 delegates from 40 countries and an estimated economic impact of more than R6 million to the destination.

"The business tourism market is becoming an increasingly important market for us in Cape Town and the Western Cape. While Cape Town Routes Unlimited's Conventions and Events Bureau celebrates these bid victories with our tourism partners and the local associations who have also contributed significantly to driving the bidding process, we need to be very strategic around what we do with conference delegates once they are in our destination," says Calvyn Gilfellan, acting Chief Executive of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, the official tourism destination marketing organisation for Cape Town and the Western Cape.

"We, and hereby I mean the entire tourism industry in our city and province, need to work together to make sure that their stay here is a life-enriching experience and that in their limited time here, they sample as much of the rich Western Cape tourism menu as possible. All this we do to ensure that they return later as leisure tourists, bringing their friends and family with them," he says.

During the 2006/2007 financial year, 15 international association bids were secured for Cape Town and the Western Cape, and therefore South Africa, by the Cape Town and Western Cape Conventions and Events Bureau, working together with its partners. These will draw an estimated 32 300 business tourists and an economic impact of R342 million to the destination between now and 2014. A further fourteen bids were submitted during this period with the potential to bring an additional 16 290 tourists and a further R138 million to the destination up till 2021. The results of these bids are still undetermined.*

It is the first time that the European chapter of the IHPBA will be coming to South Africa. The IHPBA is devoted to relieving world-wide human suffering caused by Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) disorders through improving and innovating education, training, research and patient care.

* These numbers reflect only the bids driven by the Conventions and Events Bureau of Cape Town Routes Unlimited.

"In many respects South Africa reflects the potential of the African continent. We have specifically identified Cape Town as our preferred venue as its international reputation as a major tourist destination with world-class travel and accommodation facilities, makes it attractive for delegates," says Prof Martin Smith, Chairperson of the Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association of South Africa. He has just returned from the European Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary Association congress in Verona, Italy, where it was announced that Cape Town has won the bid for South Africa.

"Our beautiful country offers more than just the opportunity to meet people and engage in meaningful debate around issues of relevance to the diseases of the HPB organ systems. There are many beautiful opportunities to explore much of the wonders of the African continent and at the same time make a meaningful contribution to HPB medicine in South Africa and hopefully to the continent in general," he says.

The EHPBA was founded in 1999 as the European regional chapter of the IHPBA. In 2002 the association expanded to countries of the Middle East and Africa. Currently, the association counts more than 400 active members from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Its previous bi-annual congresses took place in Heidelberg, Germany (2005), Istanbul, Turkey (2003) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2001). The next international congress will take place in Mumbai, India, next year.

According to Prof Smith "diseases of the HPB organs are not uncommon on the African continent and yet the existence of associations or societies dedicated to working in this field is small. There is a significant impact by the HIV/AIDS epidemic on diseases of the HPB systems, yet little is known about it in the African context. Bringing the EHPBA meeting in 2011 to our shores will make a major contribution to efforts in managing these diseases," he says. "There can be little doubt that visits to our country by the leading experts in the field adds enormously to the standard of practice of the discipline. "

"We are really excited and privileged to have the opportunity to host the 15th International Conference on Near Infrared Spectroscopy for the first time in South Africa and Africa, and only for the third time in the Southern Hemisphere in 2011", says Dr Marena Manley from the Department of Food Science, Stellenbosch University.

She was speaking from Umeå, Sweden, where she has just attended the 13th International Conference on Near Infrared Spectroscopy. At the conference she put in a bid on behalf of Cape Town and the Western Cape, and the South African Near Infrared Spectroscopy Community, to host 2011's International Conference on Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR2011) in South Africa. The bid, compiled by Cape Town Routes Unlimited's Cape Town and Western Cape Conventions and Events Bureau, consisted of a professional bid presentation document, PowerPoint presentation and DVD with appropriate video clips. According to Dr Manley the majority of the 21 participating countries voted to attend NIR2011 in Cape Town rather than Montpellier, France.

The International Near Infrared Conferences are a series of biannual meetings organised within the framework of the International Council of Near Infrared Spectroscopy and attract world leading scientific and technical experts on NIRS and related applications. Scientific topics of the NIRS Conferences include spectroscopy, chemometrics, process analysis, imaging, sampling and sample presentation, agriculture food and feed, forest and paper and pharmaceuticals. The next International Conference on Near Infrared Spectroscopy will be hosted in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2009.

More details of the Cape Town and Western Cape tourism experience are available on