Barry and Mina Thomas

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.

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.

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.

“We were a country wholeheartedly and publicly committed to tourism in 2010, but as 2011 hatches freshly on our doorsteps, we are called to heed, more than ever, a pressing need to platform tourism as an essential component of our economic survival.

What do we need to do as a city and as a province to stand out from the plethora of destinations, each with its own compelling marketing messages? How do we remain relevant and sustainable as an industry and city within an ever-changing global environment?

As a sector we are called to be at the forefront of innovation and of real solutions to the challenges that face our fragile world. But what will set us apart from the rest? How do we position ourselves in these times of inordinate international challenges and opportunities?

It is my prediction that international tourism uncertainty will remain the norm. In Cape Town we have seen the trajectory of tourism from the assurance of a golden period of abundant demand and lesser supply to the palpability of abundant, world-class supply and shrinking, competitively driven, financially constrained demand.

Add to this a growing awareness, and need for, wholly sustainable solutions to a growing population and urban landscape, and 2011 is a year in which tourism (and its affiliate public and private partners) should be hunkering down to put some serious strategy into action in a long-term vision for the decade and beyond.

Back in 2009, I wrote about the dramatic changes in the tourism sector on the back of a global economic meltdown and growing challenges surrounding climate change: “Whether because of climate or economy (which are interrelated anyhow) one thing is evident: the tourism and travel world will change fundamentally, for good.”

The first ever Tourism Business Index (TBI) recently revealed that tourism in South Africa was subject to a weak, underperforming closing quarter (October-December 2010). Within the report, these findings were qualified by the publisher’s admittance that the survey sample is, as yet, below the critical mass needed for representative findings.

It also concluded that the highs experienced by, for instance, independent hotels, were negated by the lows experienced by B&Bs and that there is plenty of optimism ahead yet.

Cape Town Tourism welcomes the arrival of the TBI report and encourages the industry to support this initiative.

Timeous, reliable access to statistics is a key component of agility when responding to the market’s ever-fickle and shifting demands and it is a long overdue player in the information lounge.

Cape Town Tourism will do an industry survey during February to measure the impact of the 2011 international tourism season across the accommodation, tour, restaurant and attraction sectors.

Results of our mid-December industry survey have been posted on http://www.capetown.travel/industry.

It has indeed been an uncertain time for tourism in Cape Town (and South Africa). A mega-event such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ became the axis around which the rest of the year pivoted.

The unseasonal June/July negated all traditional expectations and disappointed many, who expected a double boom in the year over winter and then again in summer.

While Cape Town’s traditional international season is only starting, and is therefore unquantifiable as yet, a Cape Town Tourism industry poll found that the recent festive season was an average one. People downscaled, spent less and stayed for shorter periods. Bookings were largely last-minute and severe weather conditions had an impact on people’s holiday plans and occupancy levels. Major attractions are reporting a busy December, but hotels and guest houses complain about poor occupancies, signs that visitors, whilst still travelling, are trading down and domestic visitors opting to stay with friends and relatives.

We have to remain vigilant, especially in challenging times. We must stay ahead of trends and use some of these trends to our advantage, for instance promoting the great Cape Town weather to visitors facing severe winter conditions; if they are willing to travel at the last minute we can offer great value-for-money experiences.

Innovative marketing can allow us to turn challenges into opportunities for Cape Town. We must continue investing in marketing, but not marketing in the traditional sense of the word.

These extraordinary times call for extraordinary ideas and action. We must convince decision-makers and governments that spending on tourism promotion can pay massive returns across entire economies because tourism remains our most valuable export.

While some are hoping for a recovery that will return us to what we were used to, I argue that nostalgia is counter-productive. It would be detrimental to our sector’s future well-being if we return to the comfortable, and now irrelevant, past. We need to shape a new purpose and a new roadmap through bold leadership and innovation.

The solutions to current challenges and the key to future success do not lie in our past. I do not want to see Cape Town recover; I want Cape Town to lead the way to a new, future-fit environment through fundamental change!

2011 is a make-or-break year and Cape Town Tourism will focus on some key areas to deliver real results. Cape Town is in the process of rebranding. Or, more accurately, it is moving towards being branded – since it has not, to date, had a definitive brand identity.

This is a key element of a successful marketing campaign: creating coherence not only for the market but also for the industry and the public. The formation of an identity for Cape Town will go a long way towards the creation of niche market genres. These are the key elements of a successful 365-day marketing strategy.

If Cape Town is going to win a year-round tourism following, it must create multiple points at which multiple markets can access it; and all at different times of the year. These include eco-tourism, cultural tourism, sporting, wine and cruise tourism – to name but a few.

Tourism will only weather the storms of uncertainty, the seasonal nature of weather and the ups and downs of financial fortune, if it is to appeal to a number of different markets through well-packaged, quality-driven tourism propositions in several source markets, new markets and within our own domestic market.

There is a real danger of becoming over reliant on our natural beauty and complacent as a leisure tourism destination. We must diversify and invest in new experiences and products.

Cape Town Tourism (in partnership with the City of Cape Town, Cape Town Routes Unlimited, South African Tourism and the Training Enterprises Partnership) will, in the next weeks and months, be holding a series of workshops designed to raise awareness and action around the issues of tourism product development. This will include providing insight into how to match the product to the market, highlighting the important role of cultural and heritage tourism in our country, as well as the need for sustainable, responsible tourism: both in practice and as a packaged product.

I have just returned from the Philippines where I was a guest speaker at an international conference on community tourism. I highlighted responsible tourism as the foundation of community-based tourism, without which it can do much more harm than good. When done right, tourism can sustain an entire society by empowering people with work and skills.

Revenue generation is key to the industry’s ability to sustain a year-round tourism employment foundation. Without this consistency, tourism is simply not a major contributor to a more secure social fabric and is therefore, not sustainable. Meeting the needs of the bottom line, while also upholding a healthy respect for the environment, is a challenge we are not alone in facing. By environment, I mean the social as well as natural environment.

A need for public-private partnership is increasingly apparent as we reposition Cape Town as more than just a summer leisure city. Organisations like Accelerate Cape Town have done much to elevate the business status of Cape Town, causing entire company head offices to relocate to Cape Town and adding a significant boost to the economy. Tourism in Cape Town needs more of this…

…The Tourism Development Framework (TDF) is a City of Cape Town-born initiative to help keep us all on track as we grow our tourism industry. This framework guides the sustained development and maintenance of our tourism attractions and infrastructure, the expansion of products and services and the capacity of local businesses to benefit from tourism on a city level.

The TDF also looks at our culture of tourism. How do we see ourselves in relation to the visitors who come here year after year, and the new visitors who are yet to come?

To date, the common profile of a visitor to Cape Town is a white, affluent, well-travelled, English speaker. We must broaden our horizons if we are to be a real and sustainable tourism player. Our tolerant attitudes and cosmopolitan flavour must also embrace those people who come to investigate our culture because theirs is so entirely different.

We need to sharpen our perception and get more creative in the ways we receive visitors who are not from our traditional markets, demand different experiences and are not familiar with the language, customs and ways of a westernised tourism destination.

We had a taste of it last year when people from far-flung places came to celebrate soccer with us and we need to open up to the possibility that things must and will change to include more diversity…”

Mariette du Toit-Helmbold
CEO
Cape Town Tourism

In a way you have to feel sorry for Chris von Ulmenstein. She has alienated herself from everybody that had any kind of sympathy for her. Her so-called friends snigger behind her back. The Hospitality and Tourism industry is closing down on her. It is a question of time.

Carl, you have been controversial and I haven’t always agreed with you. But I have to give it to you – your reporting has always been about transparency and honesty. Something Von Ulmenstein is lacking severely.