Tip of Africa heads for top of the world in tourism

With full support from the City of Cape Town, the provincial government and the tourism industry, Cape Town is set to take its place as one of the world's top tourist destinations.

Although international tourism dipped sharply in the wake of the September 11 attack on New York, Cape Town enjoyed a bumper holiday season with shops, hotels and restaurants reporting impressive growth in sales.

In the current climate of international terrorism, Europeans are shunning East-West travel and opting for North-South routes which are considered more secure. Another major incentive for foreign visitors to head for Cape Town is the sharp decline in the South African currency's exchange rate, resulting in unbeatable value for money.

Councillor Kent Morkel, Executive Councillor for Economic Development, Tourism and Property Management, says tourism should become the central pillar of the Western Cape economy in the coming years.

"Our vision from a conventions and incentives perspective for the year 2010 is to be among the top ten long-haul destinations in the world," he said. "This will be a powerful stimulus to the economy and job-creation.

"In the next eight years we anticipate that overseas tourism spending will surge from the present R9,7 billion to R21 billion annually."

He said tourism is everyone's business and was the ideal industry for small operators, and for this reason the City had launched the Community Based Tourism Development Fund to jump-start community involvement in the many opportunities created by tourism.

South Africa has established itself as the favourite destination in Africa, earning 2,4 billion dollars in tourism revenue in 1998 and employing seven per cent of the country's formal workforce. With the top five South African tourist attractions all concentrated in the Cape Peninsula, Cape Town is easily the preferred destination in this country, and is poised to strengthen its foothold in the international and domestic market.

But this can't be achieved with all the roleplayers acting in isolation from one another, and the City and Province have jointly launched a concerted drive - known as the Joint Marketing Initiative - to market the whole Western Cape under a single brand and logo, just as a motor car manufacturer has one brand but several models within the common brand. The models, in this instance, might be investment agencies like WESGRO, the events industry, the leisure industry and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) for example.

While tourism is widely accepted as the world's largest and fastest-growing industry with 700 million arrivals annually, competition for market share between countries and cities is fierce. Focused and skilled marketing, linked to a variety of events and attractions across the spectrum, is essential for Cape Town to capitalize fully on its matchless natural beauty.

As a first move towards bringing tourism under a single branded umbrella, the City of Cape Town is amalgamating and merging the six tourism bureaux set up under the previous dispensation and has two kiosks at Cape Town International Airport. In the past, these bureaux often worked in competition with one another, creating a fragmented and unfocused marketing structure. While the bureaux will remain as field offices for tourism, they will all fall under the City of Cape Town and will in future share a common brand, working together for the greater good of the whole metropole.

Tourism offices will continue to operate in Cape Town, Blaauwberg, Tygerberg, South Peninsula, Oostenberg and the Helderberg.

While leisure tourism makes up a hefty portion of the whole tourism cake, the focus is shifting to the hugely lucrative convention and incentive business market.

Thanks to some astute and targeted marketing by the city's Convention Bureau, Cape Town tops the list of incentive destinations from the UK but, due to a lack of world-class facilities until now, we have fallen behind other South African cities in the convention market. This is now set to change.

In 2003 the world-class Cape Town International Convention Centre will open on the foreshore, creating thousands of jobs and generating millions of rands for the local economy. This massive project, funded by the city and the province, is one of the most ambitious ever undertaken in Cape Town, but the rewards are expected to be well worth the investment.

The way ahead also includes a greater focus on the R1,6 billion Grand West Casino and Ratanga Junction for thrill seekers of different kinds, while the city has identified and is marketing 19 niche tours including whale-watching, eco-tourism, spring flowers, beautiful bays, adventure sports, shipwrecks, winelands and gourmet events like the Cape Gourmet Festival.

Thanks to some aggressive marketing here and overseas by the City's Events Office, Cape Town is now also synonomous with major events that attract large numbers of tourists for short stays in the city.

Internationally famous events include the Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour and LifeCycle Week, the Southern African International Film and Television Market (Sithengi), the Cape Town Karnaval (parade of the minstrels) and the North Sea Jazz Festival.

To cater for the expected increase in tourist arrivals, Cape Town International Airport has been extensively upgraded to include 2 735 parking bays and facilities to allow 950 passengers an hour to pass through the international arrivals terminal - up from 350 passengers in the past. Plans are also far advanced for the construction of a second runway.

Coupled with a natural environment and scenery that literally take the breath away, Cape Town certainly has the assets to beat all its rivals in the field of tourism. But it will take a determined and concerted marketing effort over the long haul to bring the Tip of Africa to the Top of the World in tourism.