ATKV Resorts takes on experiential conferences
Situated in some of the most beautiful parts of South Africa – surrounded by cultural gems, heritage sites and other exciting tourism attractions – ATKV Resorts boasts a diverse portfolio offering unparalleled hospitality.
With seven attractive resorts scattered across South Africa, renowned ATKV Resorts offers a wide array of unique experiences for visitors and conference delegates, whether they seek action and adventure or peace and quiet...
ATKV prides itself on the creation of spaces that offer tranquillity and, if needed, provide the perfect atmosphere for positive and creative business planning. Minister Kganyago, manager: Business Events Marketing, ATKV Resorts, discusses the company’s many conferencing and business tourism options with Meetings magazine. Minister says what truly makes ATKV Resorts unique is its authentic South African roots. This sets it worlds apart from other industry players and lies at the heart of the business, he believes. “ATKV Resorts was established in South Africa, and we pride ourselves on the genuine South African experience we extend to our guests. You can be sure, as a business tourist visiting any of the resorts, that you’re guaranteed a definitive South African experience, and this is a message we like to communicate to even international business tourists. ATKV Resorts assures a truly South African experience,” he explains.
Taking on 2018
With seven unrivalled successful resorts nationwide, all located amid exciting attractions and offering some of the most competitive rates, Minister is excited for the year ahead. The success of any conference lies partly in choosing the right venue for your crowd, and Minister is adamant that the premium ATKV resorts offer a wealth of options in respect of infrastructure, facilities and personal service. “All our premium resorts offer conferencing facilities, but each is unique in its own way, with varying capabilities and capacities. For example, KleinKariba will do very well with international conferences with huge numbers, while Drakensville will do well with adventure and outdoor conferencing. Ultimately, all the resorts play their own specialised role, contributing to the diversity of the local MICE industry,” he continues.
The year 2018 is set to be a big one for ATKV Resorts, as Minister details plans to augment the company’s offering – particularly for incentives and events. “We have heard the call from the industry saying ‘look, we love your resorts from a leisure perspective’ and agencies saying ‘we love your resorts for meetings’, but the product offering for the incentive traveller and those looking to host events hasn’t been what it should be.
So, it’s because of this that we are now looking at packaging some exciting industry-ready products for the market. I think the resorts have been doing themselves an injustice as far as events are concerned because, although we have hosted events before, we have never really formalised that offering. So, 2018 will definitely see the ATKV Resort group coming full circle, starting with Goudini Spa, which is essentially MICE ready,
RIDING THE TECH UPGRADES WAVE
In a bid to stay ahead of the pack, ATKV Resorts has also elected to undertake some major tech upgrades across all of its resorts to better cater for the business tourist in need of exceptional connectivity and stateof-the-art equipment. This goes beyond the now basic provision of Wi-Fi, despite most of these resorts being situated in remote areas. “It’s not lost on us that we always need to keep up with tech developments, especially current trends in the MICE space, so we want to create an environment for our visitors that serves this need, and the upgrades we are looking into are sure to impress the market,” he asserts.
SAY GOODBYE TO DULL CONFERENCES
We all know how soul-destroying dull or boring conferences can be. To this, ATKV Resorts says: “Life’s too short to sit and watch paint dry”. The company has spent a lot of time rebranding the perception of conferencing and “resuscitating the meetings and conferencing space”, according to Minister. “Innovation and creativity are central to our ‘Say goodbye to dull conferencing’ concept; we’d rather shy away from doing monotonous conferencing.”
Go green, or not at all
ATKV Resorts is a huge advocate of greening the industry and has put in place a number of greening initiatives in all its resorts because even a little goes a long way. Minister is adamant that going green is a journey and never a destination. “Greening is a big initiative for the group, and it is a never-ending journey that requires effort and commitment. There are efforts that we have put in place to go green, such as recycling water. Klein- Kariba is a member of the Event Greening Forum (EGF) and that resort makes use of grey water, solar energy, and has adopted effective waste management solutions. But we have geared ourselves to do a lot more where greening is concerned in 2018. It’s important to us,” he states.
Owing to the fact that most of ATKV’s resorts are well established and have been operating for years, the company has been able to secure strategic partnerships in surrounding areas to both uplift local businesses and further streamline the delegate experience. “We know how important these partnerships are in servicing the client, be it local sound and AV suppliers and service providers, or transport companies and we spend a lot of time building these partnerships,” adds Minister. This is achieved by increasingly stimulating the local labour market and bringing foreign revenue into the country. Minister says that as a key role player within the tourism industry, the company understands its responsibility to contribute effectively towards the betterment of the industry, locally and internationally. “In essence, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – that’s our feeling at ATKV Resorts,” Minister concludes.