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From the CEO: Travel trends 2012
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Cape Town Tourism (CTT) has declared 2012 The Year of the Member, and the team is committed to a renewed focus on service excellence when providing innovative visitor services, business development, and local and international destination marketing to our members.
We will be hosting a series of interactive events throughout the year, providing an opportunity for valued members to link with the CTT Board of Directors, its executive team and other influential champions of industry in the region. Formal invitations will be sent out shortly.
In early March, the CTT team attended the ITB Berlin travel trade show where we presented our new online toolkit and gained valuable insight into the state of the global travel industry. We were encouraged to learn that this industry marked record figures during 2011, with international tourist arrivals growing by more than 4% to 980-million. For a full review of ITB 2012, read our press release.
At an information session in mid-March, CTT members were presented with fresh insights into travel trends in Cape Town’s biggest markets, the United Kingdom and the United States, while Mashoto Zimba from South African Tourism spoke about the domestic market and the campaign to encourage more South Africans to explore their country.
Mary Tebje, our trade representative from the UK, said many British visitors to Cape Town this year would have been before, which is why more “unexpected” experiences and accommodation options will be appealing. According to Adél Grobler, our trade representative in the United States, US visitors see Cape Town as a great destination for a three-day visit after a safari in northern South Africa, or Kenya. Read a full review of the information session on our website.
Our trade representatives from The Netherlands and Germany will be visiting Cape Town in June for a similar session.
We remain extremely positive about Cape Town as both an international and domestic destination, and look forward to interacting with you, our valued members, with the aim of making our city more attractive to tourists than ever.
Enver Duminy
Acting CEO: Cape Town Tourism
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Marketing update
Earlier this month, Cape Town Tourism launched its toolkit (online brand box), new-look website and promotional video to international media and trade at ITB Berlin. The website has been upgraded to improve the user experience and increase conversions. We will be providing more information about the website upgrade and the toolkit to members during April.
In an effort to counter seasonality challenges this year, we have partnered with Mango Airlines and Thompsons Tours and developed packaging around the Good Food and Wine Show. We will be launching our winter campaign in May, but will provide members with more details about this in the next few weeks.
Cape Town Tourism will attend Indaba 2012 from May 12 to 15 and use this opportunity to promote Cape Town’s unexpected offerings; we will also be facilitating family trips to Cape Town for agents within our key source markets. We will finalise the three cities partnership with Durban and Johannesburg in the next few months.
We are preparing to host German tour operator Gebeco, along with 100 top trade partners, in the Mother City in June. We are also hosting many national and international media in the coming months, for events such as the Cape Epic, Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, and the Good Food and Wine Show.
Filming in Cape Town for a National Geographic programme will commence in April and is due for launch in September, which will tie in with the launch of our digital campaign.
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Visitor services update
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How can we help you? Image © Cape Town Tourism |
During February, 14 187 people visited the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) network (excluding the accredited VICs), including 5 651 South African and 8 536 international visitors.
Of the South African visitors, 67% were from within the Western Cape, while Gauteng and the Eastern Cape made up 11% and 6% respectively. Germany contributed the most international visitors (24.5%), followed by the United Kingdom with 24% (a 3% increase on the January figure) and the United States with 7%.
Other European countries collectively made up 23% of the number of international visitors.
Several VICs have also added value to their services, with Blaauwberg VIC now offering Computicket services, and Muizenberg VIC to offer SANParks Roomseeker reservation services soon.
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Cape Town Toolkit
The new Cape Town Toolkit is the ultimate digital toolkit to showcase and sell Cape Town as a destination.
The toolkit includes diverse itineraries, high-quality images, and information about Cape Town, allowing registered users in the travel, tourism and marketing trade to access promotional material and resources at the click of a button.
The toolkit is easy to use. Registered users are able to select specific elements, then download packaged information on Cape Town in order to put together customised itineraries, using Cape Town Tourism collateral.
Users are also able to share content in accordance with Cape Town Tourism’s new marketing theme, You don’t need a holiday, you need Cape Town! The travel trade will be able to adopt the campaign elements and promote their own packages under this theme.
Members interested in signing up for the Cape Town Toolkit should visit www.capetown.travel/toolkit and register as a user. For information on the toolkit and how to register download our presentation.
Registration for the toolkit is free to our members.
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Industry services update
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Cleaning up Newlands Station. Image © Cape Town Tourism |
Cape Town Tourism has held three workshops during the past month, one of which dealt specifically with visitors’ safety and security during township tours. It was concluded that the incidents of crime were opportunistic, rather than targeted; correct management of a situation limits the repercussions, and Cape Town Tourism will provide a seven-step guide for all our tour operators to help them manage security problems in the best manner.
CTT also conducted 337 interactive sessions with members and prospective members during February, including 88 business support sessions.
The industry services team helped clean up Newlands Station, in partnership with Metrorail during Responsible Tourism Week. As this is an on-going initiative, members can contact Cathy Alberts on +27 (0)21 487 6800 or email cathy@capetown.travel to participate.
The industry services team is also actively involved with the marketing department, ensuring that members benefit from various initiatives such as UbuntuDeal and package tours. Members are reminded to ensure that their membership has been renewed, as those who do not will have their details removed from the website, brochure racks and touch screens. You can confirm your membership status by phoning Gadijah Darries on +27 (0)21 487 6861.
Stay informed: look out for news flashes of upcoming events, opportunities and invitations in your inbox.
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Upcoming events
Earth Hour
March 31
+27 (0)21 657 6600
www.wwf.org.za
Cape Town International Jazz Festival
March 30 to 31
Cape Town International Convention Centre
+27 (0)21 422 5653
www.capetownjazzfest.com
Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon
April 6 to 7
Cape Town
+27 (0)21 657 5140
www.twooceansmarathon.org.za
Decorex
April 26 to 29
Cape Town International Convention Centre
+27 (0)11 549 8300
www.decorex.co.za
Indaba 2012
May 12 to 15
Albert Luthuli Convention Centre (ICC), Durban
+27 (0)86 107 7784
www.indaba-southafrica.co.za
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Members’ noticeboard
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The V&A Waterfront is offering special parking for CTT members |
• The V&A Waterfront has made available a number of different parking options to tour operators and tour guides at the V&A Waterfront. Click here to read more.
• If you need more reason to visit the V&A Waterfront, stop in at the Cape Town Electronic Music Festival from March 27 to April 1 2012.
• SANParks has extended the deadline for applications for commercial permits to June 2012. If you are a tour operator or tour guide and would like more information on registering as a commercial operator, contact Crystal Saville on +27 (0)21 701 8692 or e-mail crystal.saville@sanparks.org.
• Cape Town Stadium is again open for visitors, with guided tour options including the Green Point Urban Park. For more information, contact +27 (0)21 417 0108.
• Apex Shark Expeditions has advised that the sharks are back at Seal Island which bodes well for shark cage diving around the Cape Peninsula.
• Tripadvisor’s first 360 Degree survey has revealed that amenities are very important to travellers – having WiFi and breakfast included in the rate will secure customer loyalty.
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New members
A warm welcome to our new members. We look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming networking events.
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Member showcase: The Next 48hOURS
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The Next 48hOURS at a recent CTT marketing insights information session |
The Next 48hOURS has become the leisure guide of choice in the city for both locals and visitors, and has been publishing quality information in print and online since 2004.
The content focuses on the fun things to see and do in Cape Town on the weekend as well as lifestyle events that include theatre, sport and music.
The Next 48hOURS is produced by Rani Communications, a media company that also offers creative design, marketing, brochure design, printing, advertising, customised publishing, PR, event marketing, media negotiations and stakeholder management services. Special partnership deals can also be negotiated for niche events.
Special offer for Cape Town Tourism members:
Have your business featured in The Next 48hOURS with an exclusive package deal available to Cape Town Tourism members. It consists of:
• A full colour block ad measuring 30mm x 65mm in print.
• A dedicated webpage on the Next 48hOURS site which can be updated once a month.
Normally R418,50 ex VAT, Cape Town Tourism members pay R150 excluding VAT per week for a minimum period of six months. For more information, contact +27 (0)21 802 4848 or email editor@48hours.co.za.
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