Airport threatens Loeries from roosting in Margate

The Loeries took place in Margate for the fourth consecutive time this weekend, attracting more than 4000 advertising and design industry executives and resulting in a more than R20 million injection into the South Coast economy.

"We have to make a decision soon about whether the Loeries will come back to Margate next year, but looking further ahead to 2010 and beyond, the impact of the new airport is certainly a real concern," said Loerie Awards MD Andrew Human.

"The new airport will add a further hour to travel to Margate and this will not work for us.

"Ultimately, it is the industry that will decide through the industry's Creative Circle and Loerie Awards committee, together with the sponsors," he said.

Speculation

Every year since the Loeries has been held in Margate, there has always been speculation of whether the high-profile event would stay in the town. At sideline events and after-parties at the Loeries, there has been talk of new venues from Hermanus to Cape Town and even the KZN North Coast and Durban's International Convention Centre.

This year at the Loeries, there was also talk of having the awards coincide or dovetail with the big annual Design Indaba expo at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

"Every year, these views make the rounds at the Loeries," said Human, but he did not want to be drawn into commenting on options that the Loeries committee would consider.

"The 30th Loerie Awards went off very well in Margate this weekend.

"It certainly ran well from a logistics perspective and I will freely say that this was smoothest Loeries to date in Margate.

"It is a huge logistic operation to host the Loeries and all the partners worked well to deliver a better event each year.

"The actual awards ceremonies are the most advanced audiovisual productions in South Africa, so this gives you an idea of the logistics needed for this aspect alone," he said.

"Margate works for us now"

"Margate works for us now. It has a lot to offer from sufficient accommodation to being compact and dense enough, having everything within walking distance.

"It is a small town but big enough to host the Loeries and get the industry together to celebrate.

"There are pros and cons with any place you can host an event. For us, the two most important things to keep the Loeries in Margate is having a permanent venue and, more significantly with the move of the Durban airport, to have a fully-fledged commercial flight service to the Margate airport.

"The only way to have the Loeries in Margate in 2010 and possibly the future is to [have] an upgraded local airport for catering for direct flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town," Human said.

Local authorities going all out

Hibiscus Coast Municipality deputy mayor Johnny de Wet told The Mercury at the Loeries that the event was a high-profile showpiece for the South Coast and that local authorities were going all out to make sure that it stayed in Margate.

"Hosting the Loerie Awards is a tremendous honour. The event also gives a big economic and publicity boost to the South Coast during this off-peak part of our tourism calendar. The organisers, sponsors and the local Hibiscus Coast and Ugu District Municipalities pulled together to deliver a top-notch event that we can be proud of and justifiably celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Loeries," he said.

Chief executive of Ugu South Coast Tourism Michael Bertram said the fact that the Loeries had grown from attracting 1400 advertising delegates when it was hosted in Sun City back in 2004 to Margate hosting more than 4000 delegates showed that the South Coast town was "doing something right".

He said: "From our side we believe things went like clockwork at this year's Loeries and the balmy South Coast sunshine also played its part. The stylish VIP area and the spectacular awards ceremonies were very well received by the industry. We were happy and we believe that we delivered, but we will have to get more comprehensive feedback from the Loeries organisers."

Bertram said looking to the future, they were aware of the concerns expressed over the move of KZN's international airport in 2010 with the consequent impact that this will have on the South Coast not only for hosting the Loerie Awards but tourism access in general.

He said local authorities were working hard to fast-track the upgrade plans of Margate Airport to handle bigger commercial flights and more passengers.

Rakes in more than R20 million

Tourism KZN's James Seymour said the Loeries was now an important event for the South Coast and stakeholders needed to work hard to keep the event on the South Coast. He said conservative calculations show that the event rakes in more than R20 million for the local economy.

• Originally published in The Mercury and Travelwires.com on Wednesday, 30 July 2008.