Wesgro has released a new marketing video, to promote Cape Town and the Western Cape digitally and virtually as an escape from Lockdown life, in collaboration with the Western Cape Government, reports iol!

German and Dutch tourists who visited the Cape, and who loved it so much that they have stayed as residents, are used as spokespersons in the video for our region.

Bizarre is the use of TripAdvisor as the marketing platform, hardly known as a tourist platform. It is the platform on which tourists review their tourist experiences afterwards. This seems even more true of the German market,  from which I have never heard a mention about TripAdvisor. For tourism product owners TripAdvisor has little credibility because of its ‘friend and family’  reviews on this platform, and is the least liked tourism platform by far!

iol reports as follows:

‘Wesgro, in partnership with the Western Cape government, launched a new digital campaign, “Get in a Good Space”.

The campaign aims to keep the destination top of the travel consideration list by demonstrating how the region is the perfect antidote to lockdown life.

The campaign demonstrates the vast and less crowded spaces in the Western Cape by showcasing the beauty of the region and the positive feelings it evokes through the eyes of four ‘Neverending Tourists’.

Prioritising two of the Western Cape’s key travel markets, the ‘Neverending Tourists’ include German and Dutch expats, who came to the Western Cape on holiday, fell in love with the destination, and never left. Using authentic voices to rally potential visitors, the campaign depicts these neverending tourists exploring the spaces they love most, accompanied by them explaining how living in the Cape makes them feel.

“What struck me most about the campaign is the evidential truth that Cape Town and the Western Cape really does get you in a good space,” said Wesgro’s Chief Marketing Officer, Monika Iuel. “This came through authentically in the interviews we had with our campaign subjects and has translated into an incredibly moving AV,” she added.

Iuel said the international market has many questions, ranging from changing travel requirements in their own country to safety while on holiday. “They’re still in a dream phase as they emerge with cautious optimism out of a hard lockdown,” said Iuel.

The campaign is focused on awareness, positioning the Cape as an optimal wellbeing destination with high impact engagement tools included as part of the roll-out between May and October this year.

The campaign will include a reimagined take of the popular virtual tours launched as part of the ‘One Day Western Cape’ campaign last year, to support the hard-hit tour guides across the province.

As part of the campaign partnerships, Tripadvisor has been selected as the preferred platform partner to assist with championing the campaign.

Wesgro’s Head of Marketing, Jean Scheltema, said they identified TripAdvisor as the platform to be an optimal partner for the highly targeted nature of this campaign.

As part of the Western Cape Government’s broader efforts to instil traveller confidence and support the tourism sector, Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, said the campaign will direct travellers to the safetravels.capetown website as part of the awareness phase to put international travellers’ minds at ease with regards to visiting the Western Cape.