BONDay Sets the Agenda as Meetings Africa Celebrates Two Decades of Impact
As Meetings Africa 2026 moves into its final trade show day at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, there is a strong sense that this edition carries a weight that goes beyond the usual business of matching buyers with exhibitors. The event, which opened on 23 February and runs through 25 February, marks 20 years since the platform first began connecting Africa's business events industry to the world. That two-decade milestone has given this year's gathering a reflective but distinctly forward-looking character.
The tone was established early. BONDay — the Business Opportunity Networking Day that always precedes the main exhibition — delivered a full programme of structured learning sessions, strategic dialogue and knowledge exchange. Developed in partnership with leading global, continental and national industry associations, the day served as the intellectual launchpad for everything that followed. Rather than jumping straight into deal-making, BONDay gave delegates the space to think carefully about where Africa stands in the global MICE landscape and what needs to happen next to grow the continent's share of the international business events market.
A thread running through the entire day was the importance of collective positioning. With close to 20 African countries represented among the exhibitors at this year's show, the platform continues to function as a rare unifying marketplace where destinations that might normally compete can instead present a coordinated offering to international buyers. In a global environment shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, shifting travel patterns and intensifying competition from other regions, that sense of continental solidarity is not just symbolic — it is commercially essential.
Delegates heard how the recovery of the business events sector following recent years of disruption has reinforced the economic case for MICE tourism. International conferences, exhibitions and association meetings generate consistent demand, attract higher-spending delegates and leave lasting legacies in the cities and countries that host them. Compared to leisure tourism alone, business events deliver a broader and more durable economic impact — a message that resonated strongly with the African destinations and suppliers present in Johannesburg this week.
The Sandton Convention Centre itself played a prominent role in the narrative, reaffirming its position as a gateway venue for global business events hosted on African soil. Working alongside South African Tourism and a network of industry partners, the venue showcased the country's ability to manage large-scale, complex international gatherings — a capability that underpins South Africa's broader strategy of using business events to attract investment, develop skills and strengthen destination branding.
Perhaps the most thought-provoking conversations on BONDay centred on narrative ownership. Speakers challenged the room to move beyond simply hosting meetings and instead take an active role in shaping the global conversations that happen within those meetings. The argument was compelling: Africa's business events industry should not just be a facilitator of international dialogue but a platform capable of influencing investment priorities, policy agendas and development outcomes on a continental and global scale.
Sustainability, cultural positioning, the professionalisation of the MICE workforce and the growing role of sport and creative industries in destination branding all featured in the day's programme. These themes are expected to carry directly into the partnerships and deals being negotiated on the trade show floor, where exhibitors ranging from convention centres and hotels to destination marketing organisations and professional conference organisers are meeting with qualified international and regional buyers.
A keynote address from South Africa's Minister of Tourism is anticipated during the exhibition days, adding a policy dimension to what is already a commercially charged environment. Minister Patricia de Lille had earlier described both Meetings Africa and Africa's Travel Indaba — scheduled for 11 to 14 May in Durban — as critical milestones in the continent's tourism calendar.
For professionals across sub-Saharan Africa working in the travel and events space, the message from Johannesburg this week is one of maturity and ambition. Twenty years of Meetings Africa have built something tangible — a platform with credibility, reach and purpose. The challenge for the next chapter is to convert that platform into even greater economic returns for destinations and businesses right across the continent.
