MURRAY WILLIAMS
Staff Writer
Cape Town Tourism is to launch a new global campaign to propel the city to the forefront of world attention after seeing more than 100 businesses in the sector closing in the past two years.
The Cape Argus reported three weeks ago that many in the industry believed the sector to be in “crisis” – citing near-record low hotel occupancy rates and bleak forecasts for the coming season.
Today, the tourism authority unveiled a multiprong strategy to address this – including major deals with global broadcasters, and plans to use Cape Town’s Fan Walk to “link sites of significance across the city through a series of interactive walks”.
The authority’s Mariette du Toit-Helmbold said: “Cape Town Tourism has seen more than 118 businesses close in the past 24 months.
Furthermore, across the sector the lack of growth experienced since 2007 equates to a lost opportunity for some 18 000 potential new jobs.”
This was a world-wide trend as a direct result of the global financial crisis.
“This has left many businesses and industries scrambling on how to be relevant in the new environment,” she said.
“The world’s cities are the new tourism battleground and Cape Town probably does not receive a quantum of visitors, anywhere near its potential.”
The tourism authority had worked on the new strategy for seven months, engaging world experts such as Ian MacFarlane, who led the acclaimed “100% pure New Zealand” campaign.
Other recent successful campaigns had been Malaysia’s “Malaysia, Truly Asia” and India’s “Incredible India”.
Cape Town’s new campaign is due to be launched in October. No details of the new brand have been divulged, but Du Toit-Helmbold said the strategy would include:
l Negotiations with global media channels like Discovery and National Geographic.
l Consolidating the events portfolio into a compelling and marketable year-round calendar. The focus will remain on winter to help address seasonality and grow tourism.
This includes a new lifestyle/food and wine event for next year.
l Building on strong media and trade relations in our European and US markets by hosting selected media and trade in Cape Town in partnership with the industry.
l Renewed focus on Cape Town’s “key source markets” – the UK, the US, Germany and the Netherlands.
l Exploring new markets with the focus on targeting international TV channels and magazines.
l And a “radical overhaul of Cape Town Tourism’s systems and technology”
, including a new centralised online booking system.