Global Manager for Events at SAT Sugen Pillay said the aim of the events portal was to mobilise the industry ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
"There was a huge gap in the industry over the last two years as to regular and accurate information with whats happening in 2010, and this was an attempt to address that gap.
"We launched in April 2008, which is when we had a soft launch ... we also went out to key partners and provided a training programme for our key partners like the host cities and the provincial tourism authorities in order to use the events portal properly," said Pillay.
At the moment the site focuses mainly on the world cup, he said, adding that SAT wants to bring in other major events such as rugby, cricket and other lifestyle events such as jazz festivals.
Pillay said the site also contains a "How to" page which will explain everything from how to log in and register, to how to load information and update details on the site.
The site also contains a News Page which contains all news relevant to an event such as the world cup, including progress reports from host cities and local and provincial tourism bodies.
"We have picked up that there are 800 events that are happening in South Africa on an annual basis, now that is a lot of events.
"A lot of people are not aware of these events, so we want to provide a platform to give the consumer a wide variety of things when they come to South Africa, but also to give stakeholders of events the opportunity to publicise and showcase their events," Pillay said.
Stakeholders will be able to go onto the site and upload any event that they have happening, highlighting one of the best features of the website being its interactive nature allowing stakeholders to download, upload and correct information on the site, under management and moderation by SAT.
Under the 2010 Tourism Organising Plan - which is a blue print for how the industry operates - the portal has highlighted six priority projects including accommodation, statistics, marketing and communication, safety and security, service levels and transport.
The website contains a comprehensive contact list with the names and numbers of everyone involved in the tourism industry and with the 2010 FIFA World Cup including the contact details of Local Organising Committee (LOC) members and host city officials.
"For us one of the most important things in the accommodation sector, is one of the legacy that the world cup is going to leave behind is it is going to create the opportunity for more and more accommodation establishments in this country to be graded.
"What this means is there will be quality assurance within the tourism industry - especially of non-hotels.
"For the first time in the history of the world cup you are going to non-hotels that are part of staging this huge event, and I think the target set is about 5 000 rooms that they want to grade and contract," he said.
“If you are a B&B owner, he said, the site would be perfect to give you access to information on how to get graded and the processes involved.”
To register and gain access to the SAT Events Portal, go to http://events.southafrica.net.
Article published courtesy of BuaNews
