Cape Town Tourism has introduced an inclusive global marketing campaign for the city. “The campaign encapsulates the essence of every facet of what the City has to offer, from tourism to design, business and studies to the rich diversity of people and nature,” says the organisation.
Says CEO of Cape Town Tourism, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold: “Global best practice shows that the demand problem will be addressed if we retain most of our existing successful initiatives but overlay them on a compelling global marketing and communications campaign; a campaign which takes Cape Town to the world in a bold and comprehensive manner.
“Such a strategy would position Cape Town as a city of the future, for the benefit of all visitors irrespective of purpose of visit, building the knowledge base and subsequently, the demand for Cape Town. Whilst we acknowledge that Cape Town is still plagued with serious social issues, we must illustrate the determination to resolve these issues via tourism, education, service delivery, city planning and design.”
In 2008, The City of Cape Town mandated Cape Town Tourism to lead a brand positioning process for the destination taking into consideration all the aspects that make the city unique. This brand positioning was formulated in partnership with tourism members, the private sector, the City of Cape Town, non-member role players and key stakeholders such as Accelerate Cape Town, the Cape Film Commission and the newly formed EDP (Economic Development Programme).
The marketing strategy aims to differentiate Cape Town from other cities, be relevant, personal and future-orientated, while ensuring that the concept is flexible enough to be adapted message-wise for all stakeholders.
Leisure tourism is Cape Town Tourism’s mandate but anchored on the platform of livability, the city’s proposition may be elevated to multiple audiences, in an array of countries, to meet business, investment and academic objectives.
Cape Town’s new campaign will be launched internationally to media and trade at the World Travel Market in London on 7 November. Cape Town Tourism will partner with international trade and media to sell Cape Town in a more compelling way, joining forces with international airlines and our local industry to put together packages to Cape Town to convert the demand into business.
In the meantime, negotiations with Discovery Channel and National Geographic have been concluded and Cape Town Tourism will launch a series of programmes with these media partners in April 2012. A series of programmes have been agreed in collaboration with Durban, Johannesburg and South African Tourism.
Du Toit-Helmbold concludes; “The marketing campaign is about more than just attracting tourists. It’s about incorporating business and investment, the creative and innovation sectors and academia into one vision and direction: economic growth, job creation and inclusion to the benefit of all citizens.”
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