Comments for A Spaniard in the Works

Comment on Poor Johannesburg! by Neil Fraser

Neil Fraser — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:00:55 +0000

I have been involved in the Johannesburg Inner City urban renewal programme for many years and in that capacity have worked closely with the City politicians and officials. Pre 1994 a joint city/business tourism company had been established but it was funded by the city. It had a somewhat mixed reputation but generally did a fairly competent job.After 1994 the politicians disbanded it in favour of an in-house department which was a disaster. Around 2001/2 it was re-established as “an independent company” (its directors, chairman and funding coming from the council!). It chose to relocate itself to Rosebank in snazzy offices that appeared to be almost always empty except for its staff and was generally ineffectual. It’s CEO left under what I believe were corruption charges. Since then it appeared to improve to an extent but its ties to the Council left it little if any independence of thought or action. Returning directly to within the highly politicised folds of the Council itself will finally stifle it completely.

Comment on “It’s just a jump to the left… And then a step to the right…” by Poor Johannesburg! | A Spaniard in the Works

Poor Johannesburg! | A Spaniard in the Works — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:09:00 +0000

[...] Remember me Forgot login? | Register ← “It’s just a jump to the left… And then a step to the right…” [...]

Comment on “This deserves our best shot” by “It’s just a jump to the left… And then a step to the right…” | A Spaniard in the Works

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:29:47 +0000

[...] happened here contrasted so to the plans given in our November 2011 interview with Andrew Boraine, who is leading the process for the Economic Development Partnership [...]

Comment on How Pick n Pay is destroying a winning brand by Chris Moerdyk

Chris Moerdyk — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:23:27 +0000

I agree – PnP is definitely lacking the Raymond Ackerman inspirational touch. It almost seems like they have lost interest in leading and have decided to try following for a while. I have no doubt that they will weather their doldrums and come back fighting. There is still a lot of brand value in their reserve tank.

Comment on The Worst Pick n Pay in South Africa? by How Pick n Pay is destroying a winning brand | A Spaniard in the Works

How Pick n Pay is destroying a winning brand | A Spaniard in the Works — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:33:57 +0000

[...] in for PnP. No I don’t, although I have written a scathing attack in this blog once before (The worst Pick n Pay in SA). I’ve known the Ackerman family for almost 30 years and have deep respect, admiration and [...]

Comment on Cape Town: World Design Capital 2014 by Dan

Dan — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 02:59:02 +0000

This is awesome news for Cape Town and for South Africa in general.

Comment on Say No! to toll roads in Cape Town by Barrry

Barrry — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:44:37 +0000

I couldn’t agree more ! It is THE most insidious form of tax. What can we do about it ?

Barry and Mina Thomas

Comment on Cape Town Tourism: delivery time! by Noel

Noel — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:42:07 +0000

My opinion is that all arguments about tourism market share that use head counts as the measure are based on a wonky premise. It is Rands per footfall that should be counted, which is a much better indicator of the health or otherwise of the industry. Most of the world’s best tourism destinations get dumbded down to a level of banal commonality through pursuing volume instead of value.

The above applies right the way down to the simplest of home-stays, where less tourists for more money is in every sense a better proposition than the other way around. Instead of this, the typical pattern that develops in chasing head counts is for charters to be brought in to bolster the numbers, which results in more people spending less that in turn necessitates a drop in standards. The drop in standards coupled with overcrowding drives the big spenders away and a spiral sets in from which there is no recovery.

Some will say I am suggesting Cape Town should be elitist in its approach. Indeed and why not? Value for money does not necessarily mean cheap. This city is a rare global icon especially attractive to a particular market segment both locally and internationally. This is its unique sales proposition and to change that simply for the sake of attracting more numbers rather than more Rands must be crazy.

Comment on Cape Town Tourism: delivery time! by CapeInfo

CapeInfo — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:40:59 +0000

Thanks Nils

I’m not sure that it’s CapeInfo’s job to provide suggestions but rather to stimulate debate and discussion.

I do think, however, that three of the comments made in the blog post are relevant – getting real about statistics (“You can’t manage what you can’t measure”), the need to concentrate more on less-glamourous domestic tourism, and overcoming some perceptions of Cape Town as elitist and expensive.

Comment on Cape Town Tourism: delivery time! by Nils

Nils — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:30:12 +0000

Carl

you quote Wincston Churchill, was it not him who said:”Do not believe a single statistic unless you falsified it yourself!”? The biggest issue here is still the figures on which we base all the complaining! Even as a Nation we still have not a uniform and agreed upon set of standards with regard to collecting and collating data. Let us start there! After all we soon would love to hear how much better we are in comparison to this year!?

We had an amazing run until 2008/9 as an industry in Cape Town. Whose doing was that? Who did the right thing then? I agree with you that we need new and fresh ideas, we need to take bold steps. What I miss in your spaniards tale is some meaty suggestions and clear comparisons to what maybe should have been done and how!

As a Capetonian tourism player I appreciate your continued committment. Now let’s get constructive.