National Geographic to market Durban

In 2012, the municipality entered into a two-year partnership with National Geographic to position Durban as a 'must visit' world-class tourist destination.

In 2012, the municipality entered into a two-year partnership with National Geographic to position Durban as a 'must visit' world-class tourist destination.

Published Dec 4, 2014

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Durban - Durban Tourism is to spend almost R22-million to partner again with the National Geographic Society to market the city around the world.

The eThekwini Municipality approved the three-year agreement, which Phillip Sithole, head of the city’s tourism, said had been planned for.

In a report, the city’s executive committee (Exco) was told that the partnership would provide a platform through which Durban Tourism could engage with potentially 100 million visitors who had expressed a desire to visit Durban.

This was based on the impact of the first partnership, which ended in June.

In 2012, the municipality entered into a two-year partnership with National Geographic to position Durban as a “must visit” world-class tourist destination.

National Geographic implemented a global campaign, which included print, digital and television. The TV campaign included the production of three 60-second vignettes and two documentaries dedicated to Durban.

According to research conducted by an independent international company, the campaign had “engaged” with more than 500 million people across 130 countries.

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The most interesting finding was that more than 100 million viewers indicated that they would consider a visit to Durban in the next three to 10 years, Exco was told.

With the new partnership, the plan is to provide the means to convert the viewers to actual visitors to the city.

National Geographic’s Traveller magazine continued to focus on the world’s most desirable and interesting destinations and would commission an in-depth feature article on Durban and potentially, KwaZulu-Natal.

Editorial staff will arrive in Durban next month to develop the content.

Images from a “photo workshop” to be conducted by National Geographic will be used by Durban Tourism in its marketing and advertising campaigns.

As part of the deal, Durban Tourism’s advertising will feature in National Geographic’s Traveller magazine and on its main website.

There will also be an editorial supplement on The Best of Durban, and a 12-page feature for the USA Traveller magazine and tablet editions about Durban and KZN.

Themes and topics will be defined to include sporting events, culture and heritage, cuisine, lifestyle, architecture and multi-culturalism.

The proposed partnership will require funding of R5.5m in the 2014/15 financial year, R9m in 2015/16 and R6.8m in 2016/17.

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