Durban had shot up the world conference city rankings - up 53 places to 178th - ahead of Joburg, James Seymour, chief executive of the Durban KwaZulu-Natal Conventions Bureau, said yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of KZN's first dedicated business tourism planning guide, he said Durban had improved its rankings, according to the International Conference and Congress Association (ICCA).
"The gathering of data on international and regional meetings that took place in the city helped bolster Durban's 2010 ranking. In 2009, Durban's ranking was 231 and for 2010, which has just been released, it shot up to 178th spot," he said.
"This implies that Durban has moved ahead of Joburg, which came in at 196, in the influential rankings. Cape Town remains South Africa's most important city in terms of this ranking. However, its ranking dropped from 35 in 2009 to 41 last year.
"One of the core reasons for Durban's improvement in this ranking is the fact that the recently established Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau set out to ensure that all meetings that qualify for ICCA ranking were submitted to the global industry body," said Seymour.
He said the enhanced ranking would boost the city's image and could help it attract major events.
The city aimed to be among the top 70 leading conference destinations in the world in the next three years.
Merryl Fairfoot, the convention bureau's research and development manager, said Durban had been in the spotlight during the World Cup and was holding major international events this year - including the International Olympic Committee's session and the UN climate change summit.
"This has given Durban incredible momentum to secure more major events and conferences," she said.
Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew Layman said Durban's rise in the rankings was good news. He said Seymour and his team were ensuring that Durban was noticed as a world-class player in the competitive global conference industry.
Seymour said the new KZN Meetings Industry Guide provided a comprehensive overview of all business meetings, incentives and exhibition venues and services in the province. He said the convention bureau's website also went live on Monday, and the bureau would be represented at the IMEX business tourism trade show in Frankfurt next week.