Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

Despite a commitment made more than six months ago that Cape Town Tourism and Cape Town Routes Unlimited would work together to market Cape Town and the Western Cape, and would work to avoid duplication in their marketing activities, little synergy between the two bodies is evident.

Now Western Cape Finance, Economic Development and Tourism Minister Alan Winde has confirmed that the two bodies will not amalgamate, and that nothing will change in the relationship between the two bodies until the end of the World Cup in July, reports Travel News Weekly.  

Winde also stated that a new focus would be the closer co-opration between role-players at national, provincial and local government levels in the Western Cape.   When the DA took both the province and the city in the last election, Winde stated that he would ensure that he would work to the unification of tourism at provincial and City level,  and would prevent it from being vulnerable to political party changes over time. 

The return of Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold from maternity leave on 1 April should result in new vitality for the city tourism body.  Du Toit-Helmbold is a dynamic and enthusiastic marketer.  In her absence, Belinda van Niekerk has run Cape Town Tourism, but as she comes from an admin and financial background, she lacks Du Toit-Helmbold’s flair, energy and communication skills.   The new Marketing Manager of Cape Town Tourism, Leanne Burton,  has used Du Toit-Helmbold’s absence to build her own brand name, rather than that of her organisation or (more correctly) of the acting-CEO, in her PR activities for Cape Town Tourism, and has created some hostility with the media.

With the World Cup about 60 days away on her return, Du Toit-Helmbold will have a huge challenge to help fill her members’ beds, given the disappointing bookings over the World Cup to date, and to excite Capetonians about the benefit of Cape Town being one of the host cities for the world’s largest sport event. 

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The festive season saw fewer holiday makers in the Cape, they stayed for a shorter period, and they spent less during their stay, say the tourism authorities, reports Fin24.   According to the Cape Argus, international tourism numbers dropped by 6 %, compared to 2008, due to the recession and due to the stronger Rand, offering lesser value for money.

According to Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO Calvyn Gilfillan the Garden Route was quieter, speculating that this was due to the water shortage in the area.   The bookings however were slow compared to previous years, long before the water crisis became a reality.   The Overberg (especially Hermanus) and the Cape Town city centre were quieter, while the Boland reported similar tourism numbers as last year.   The West Coast had improved visitor numbers, being a more affordable destination.

Tourists were looking for affordability, says Cape Town Tourism, and that is why 5-star hotels struggled financially as guests traded down to lower star accommodation or even to self-catering accommodation.   Fedhasa Cape reports that occupancy in 5 star hotels reduced by 10 - 20 % compared to last year, over the festive period, while 3 and 4 star hotels “did better”.

The lower number of visitors from Johannesburg was evident in Cape Town and especially Plettenberg Bay.  It is said that the Johannesburgers stayed home this festive season, to save money in order to renovate their homes, which they want to rent out for the FIFA World Cup, at which time they want to leave the country.  Even the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company had mainly Capetonians as visitors.

At Whale Cottage Camps Bay bookings are starting to look good from 28 January onwards, the start of the weekend on which the J & B Met takes place, and almost all of February is booked out already.  The Argus Cycle Tour in March is also good for business.

Upmarket restaurants have been reported to have also felt the pinch over the festive season, and many did not manage to fill their expensive tables for New Year’s eve, with prices as high as R 2 000 per person.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

“Cape Town tourism plummets” was the dramatic headline of EyeWitnessNews yesterday, reflecting the decline in tourism this season so far, particularly in the Western Cape interior.

The report quotes Cape Town Routes Unlimited, which it mistakenly refers to as “Cape Town’s official tourism marketing body”, as admitting that “the Mother City is experiencing a dismal year, with the number of visitors significantly lower than in previous years.”   According to the report, Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO Calvyn Gilfellan has visited Western Cape tourism districts, and received feedback of varying tourism numbers, especially along the Garden Route.

The Whale Cottage Portfolio can also confirm this scenario, with November being a poor month in Franschhoek (32 % occupancy - normally this month is close to fully booked), in Hermanus (66 % occupancy - usually close to fully booked), and in Plettenberg Bay (28 %).   Only Whale Cottage Camps Bay in Cape Town held its own with an occupancy in November of 88%, yet down from 96 % last year.

The festive season period is almost fully booked at the Whale Cottages in Camps Bay and in Plettenberg Bay, the cricket match in Cape Town in early January being a big boost for Camps Bay bookings.   Hermanus is seeing the poorest bookings over the festive season, despite the area having a new Destination Marketing Organisation, but which is just not bringing in the bookings.

South African Tourism’s Global Manager: Product, Hanneli Slabber, states in her Christmas message that this “..has been one of the industry’s toughest years”.  She encourages emphasis on Service Excellence, in that it is the little touches that makes visitors return to a destination and a tourism product.  “What our visitors want in 2010 is something their money can’t buy.  It’s called Service Excellence - and it comes from being professional at what you do, competent in how you do it, and treating people with genuine warmth and respect when you do it” she writes.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The Tourism Grading Council of South Africa has announced the new members of its Awards Committee, and it contains a most strange collection of persons.

According to Travelwires.com, the new Awards Committee has the following members (interestingly, no e-mail to announce the new Awards Committee has been sent to all the star-graded accommodation establishments):

Peter Bacon, Chairman of the Awards Committee, former CEO of Sun International, a recent addition to the Board of South African Tourism, and current Chairman of Cape Town Routes Unlimited

Phillip Thompson, property developer and member of IDC,  “an architectural consulting group with a special focus on the hospitality industry and hospitality buildings”.  He served on the Board of S A Tourism from 1997 - 2000.

Smangele Nhlapo, owner of Deco File, “a 100% black female owned Interior design company specialising in interior architectural design, space planning, interior design, turnkey installations and decor”

Alan Romburgh is the outgoing Chairman of the Tourism Grading Council, and owned Relais Hotel South African, a company with multiple hotel properties.

Jegie Padmanathan is “Group Hotel Operations and Development Executive at Peermont, and previous Hotel and Resort Operations Manager at Emperor’s Palace”

Tony Hazel, Senior Manager (business) of the RCI Group.   He has previously been Operations Manager at Mabula Private Game Reserve and at the Magalies Country Club.   He was at the Southern Sun Group for 11 years, in various Food & Beverage positions.

Mzi Gcanga, principal architect at gmg Design Building Architecture, and a director of Manteku Private Lodge

Ahmed Clothia, Managing Director of Galileo SA (a booking portal for flights, accommodation etc).  He has been a travel consultant for most of his career.

Julian Smith, owner of Julian Decor, a fashion and decor designer.

Of this collection of committee members, only Romburgh, and to a lesser extent Bacon, Hazel and Padmanathan, will have a hands-on feel for the accommodation industry, and its quality challenges.   What is glaringly deficient is any representation of the small accommodation industry, making up by far the bulk of the graded properties of the Tourism Grading Council.   One wonders what the architects, a travel consultant, and a fashion and interior designers are doing on the Awards Committee, having no experience of the standards set for the hospitality industry, or for the requirements of international tourists in particular.

The Awards Committee evaluates and approves recommendations from the Tourism Grading Council assessors as to the renewal of an existing establishment’s star grading, or its increase or decrease in stars, and the recommendation of a star grading awarded to new accommodation establishments.

Bacon is quoted as saying that he and his Committee wish to increase the number of graded establishments, and to focus on the integrity of the grading system.  “Quality Assurance is a pillar of S A Tourism’s overall strategy to attract more foreign visitors to the country and our intention is to align our system with international best practice” he said.

The Tourism Grading Council’s Thembi Kuneni says of the Committee: “The Awards Committee comprises a collective of individuals who possess profound knowledge about the industry and this knowledge will, no doubt, impact positively on the business of the Tourism Grading Council over the Committee’s three-year tenure.  On behalf of my team at the Grading Council, I extend heartfelt congratulations on their appointment and we look forward to working with them”. 

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Peter Bacon, former Sun International CEO, and current Chairman of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, has been appointed to two illustrious tourism positions - as Chairman of the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa Awards Committee,  and as a Board member of South African Tourism, reports The Citizen.

The Awards Committee of the Tourism Grading Council evaluates the stars awarded to accommodation establishments, not just for new establishments, but also for the annual renewal.

The Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, lauded the appointments of Bacon: “It is a privilege to have Mr Bacon on board to help us with the challenge to grow tourism to a major sector of the South African economy.   His experience in the hospitality industry will be of immense value to the Tourism Grading Council and I am very pleased that he has agreed to make this important contribution to our industry.   The quality assurance credibility of South Africa is of utmost importance and will be a very important factor in our successful hosting of the Soccer World Cup in 2010, as well as the continued growth of the sector beyond 2010″, he said.

Bacon appears to be a very low-key operator, not having made any public statements since he took over the chairmanship of controversial Cape Town Routes Unlimited two years ago.   He is perhaps more publicly known as the husband of Anneline Kriel, a former Miss World.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio” www.whalecottage.com

Cape Town is facing strong tourism competition, and will have to set itself far tougher tourism challenges and to market itself more creatively to be able to meet this competitive challenge, said Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold at the tourism member association AGM earlier this week, reports Southern African Tourism Update. 

“ * be recognised as one of the top cities in the world to live, visit, study and invest in
  * double its tourism income
  * use the Fifa World Cup as a springboard to create an economic legacy and unite Capetonians
  * to solve its seasonality problems.”

 ”* a commercial business development strategy focusing on retail, use of technology to upgrade the visitor services network, and expansion of a patron partnership programme with the corporate sector.

* Joint marketing agreements with the tourism industry to expand private-sector funding contributions.

Instead of competing against each other, Cape Town Tourism and Cape Town Routes Unlimited will be working together in marketing Cape Town from the end of October, says Southern African Tourism Update.

Discussions are underway as to the co-funding of marketing both Cape Town and the Western Cape at international marketing shows, for business tourism, for city events, for e-business, and the V & A Tourism Gateway.  In addition, the respective roles of the two bodies for marketing the city and the region are being discussed. 

Commenting on the discussions, Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO Calvyn Gilfellan called for a “lasting institutional framework that would be protected from political interference”.  

The City of Cape Town is already funding Cape Town Routes Unlimited on a project-by-project basis.   In June the two parties met with the respective city and provincial politicians, to discuss the prevention of marketing duplication and fragmentation, following from the City of Cape Town withdrawing its R 25 million funding from Cape Town Routes Unlimited, and allocating the responsibility for marketing the City to Cape Town Tourism.   This resulted in both bodies marketing Cape Town locally and especially internationally.   Previously the city and the province were controlled by two different political parties, but now that the DA runs both city and province, a tourism marketing alignment can be created.

It is surprising how poor both marketing bodies are in keeping tourism players up to date, especially Cape Town Tourism, which has a membership body it could easily and regularly e-mail.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The authoritative Bon Appetit magazine, which is an important source of food information for its American readers, recently brought a delegation of readers to the Cape in conjunction with the USA offices of S A Tourism and AuthentEscapes, and was hosted by Cape Town Routes Unlimited.

Heading the Bon Appetit group was Victoria von Biel, the publication’s executive editor.  A welcoming reception was hosted for her party at the Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl.

In March the publication featured Cape Town, with a pic of Camps Bay beach and the Twelve Apostles as its main photograph.   It recommended the restaurants Biesmiellah, Bizerca Bistro, The Foodbarn, Bukhara, Anatoli, Caveau, and the Olympia Cafe and Deli as its “picks”.  One hopes that the magazine’s restaurant recommendations will improve after the latest visit. 

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio www.whalecottage.com

Cape Town has been chosen as the top incentive destination in the world and is included in the UK Conferences and Incentives magazine 2009 Hot List.

Readers of the magazine had to vote for their favourite incentive destinations.  

“It is clear that our excellent value for money, creative and growing incentive industry and the warm hospitality of our people contribute towards Cape Town as a long haul destination being a hot and attractive proposition to the UK incentive buyers” said Calvyn Gilfellan, CEO of Cape Town Routes Unlimited.

In December next year 500 incentive buyers will attend the Society of Incentive Travel Executives international conference in Cape Town, the first time that the conference will be held in Africa.  It is estimated to generate R 6 million for the local economy.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The best tourism news in a long time is the announcement by Frankfurt-based Kleber PR Network that it has been appointed to market Cape Town, reports DeinTouristNet.

Kleber PR Network has good experience of marketing South Africa in Germany for the past 15 years, having been the PR company in Germany for S A Tourism for many years, until the local national marketing body appointed Ogilvy as its new advertising agency, with an affiliated PR company, therefore relinquishing its relationship with Kleber.  

Whale Cottage has accommodated S A Tourism journalists over the years, and can vouch for the knowledge of and passion for Cape Town and the rest of South Africa of the Kleber PR Network executives. 

Hanna Kleber, CEO of Kleber PR Network, said: “Kapstadt hat jede Menge Potential und wir freuen uns darauf, die Stadt mit gezielten Maßnahmen weiter im Urlaubs- und Businessreise-Markt zu etablieren.   Mit seiner traumhaften Lage an zwei Weltmeeren, dem spannenden Mix aus Nationalitäten und Kulturen und einer landschaftlichen Vielfalt, die ihres gleichen sucht, hat sich Kapstadt in den letzten Jahren als eine der großen internationalen Lifestylemetropolen einen Namen gemacht. Im Zuge der FIFA Fussballweltmeisterschaft 2010 - wird die Stadt zudem als wichtige Austragungsstätte im Fokus der Öffentlichkeit stehen.” (Kleber PR will further enhance Cape Town’s presence in the leisure and business tourism markets, and will position the city as a lifestyle metropole, being very much in the focus for the 2010 World Cup.)

One wonders why Cape Town Tourism does not communicate such exciting news to its members.  WhaleTales recently criticised the lack of visible marketing by Cape Town Tourism and by Cape Town Routes Unlimited, but neither of the two bodies responded to this criticism.  

The appointment of a PR company to market South Africa’s top tourism asset is fantastic news, and would delight its members, especially at a time when membership renewals are due!

Communication with Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, has confirmed the appointment of the Kleber PR Network for the marketing of Cape Town in Germany, and she also communicated that a PR company has been appointed in the UK.  A similar appointment is expected in The Netherlands shortly.

Read the full report here

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com