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.

 

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