{"id":72623,"date":"2015-09-23T01:01:50","date_gmt":"2015-09-22T23:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=72623"},"modified":"2015-09-23T01:01:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-22T23:01:50","slug":"biggest-ever-conference-secured-for-cape-town-with-15000-delegates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/biggest-ever-conference-secured-for-cape-town-with-15000-delegates\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest ever conference secured for Cape Town, with 15000 delegates!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>Wesgro has announced that its Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau has won the bid to host the World Ophthalmology Congress, with 15000 delegates, in 2020. \u00a0The Congress will be one of the largest medical meetings in the world, and the largest ever held in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

The value of the Congress has been estimated at R210 million over the five-day Congress period, benefiting accommodation establishments, restaurants, retail outlets, and transport facilities.<\/p>\n

Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde congratulated Wesgro and the Cape Town International Convention Centre for winning the bid. He said that Wesgro attracts conferences to the value of R300 million annually. The delegates attending the Congress are likely to become future leisure tourists, and will help grow the Western Cape Tourism sector, and grow employment in the industry by 100000 in the next five years.<\/p>\n

Cape Town’s location in Africa will benefit ophthalmology and eye-care on the continent, highlighting the disparities in eye-care globally, and in Africa specifically. Patients in Southern African specifically suffer unnecessary visual loss and preventable blindness, and this was an angle built into the Congress bid.<\/p>\n

The World Congress of Ophthalmology will be held in 2020 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, of which the \u00a0expansion will have been completed by 2017.<\/p>\n

Source: Wesgro, Minister Alan Winde’s office.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Tel (021) 433-2100 Twitter:@WhaleCottage \u00a0<\/strong>Facebook: \u00a0<\/strong>click here<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wesgro has announced that its Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau has won the bid to host the World Ophthalmology Congress, with 15000 delegates, in 2020. \u00a0The Congress will be one of the largest medical meetings in the world, and the largest ever held in Cape Town. The value of the Congress has been<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[7,26803,3,124,1253,1918,22,516,21],"tags":[32367,2158,1317,32310,256,32378,32394,32308,32309,32307,13,525,5,200,515,32387],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t