Blackberries | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

Social Media marketing is one of the most important means of communication with potential tourists, in planning their trips, and these media are also used by them to share their holiday information experiences during and after their holidays. This is one of the trends that Cape Town Tourism reported on its return from the “Future Day” Convention held in Berlin last week, running in conjunction with ITB (Internationale Tourismusbörse), the world’s largest travel trade fair.

The internet in general is the most important source of travel information, with 95 % of travellers searching for information on-line, and more than half booking on-line, up by 10 percentage points from 45 % in just two years. In the USA just more than half of travellers use social media to research travel destinations and to make online bookings. Travel tips from friends, interactive bookings and mobile travel guides are some of the social media travel applications that influence travel by travellers.

Mobile phones play a vital part in this travel communication, because they are easily portable and accessible, unlike laptops, which are dependent on wifi access. While on holiday or on a business trip, travellers can use their iPhones, Blackberries and other phones to find and share information about the destination. With large increases in tourists coming from Asian countries, and China in particular (46 million travellers in 2010, and 155 million mobile Internet subscribers), and another 127 million in India, it is vital that tourism destinations such as Cape Town reach tourists via mobile phones, and smart phones in particular. The World Travel Monitor has found that 40 % of international travellers travel with a smart phone with internet, e-mail and other functions, with the balance holding a conventional mobile phone. Of the smart phone users, 40 % use them to obtain destination information, and 26 % of leisure travellers and 34% of business travellers use them to change bookings while travelling. Just more than a third of international travellers use their smart phones to access mobile social networks. This leads to tourists posting content to their Facebook pages or Blogs, or photographs on Twitter or Flickr, whilst they are still at the destination. In future it is likely to see that photographs and information posted will have GPS information, with screens providing travel information.

The travel and tourism trends which Cape Town Tourism brought back from ITB are the following:

* Globalisation, demographic change and climate change are the three most important trends affecting tourism. Climate change has created a moral debate amongst travellers about the effect of a long haul flight to a city like Cape Town on the carbon footprint, a potential threat to tourism to our country, if the local tourism industry cannot find ways to communicate to these travellers how they can offset their long-haul travel whilst in the country. The Convention predicted that “individual carbon budgets could be in the pipeline”.

* The largest tourism growth has come from Asia and South America. This year international travel is expected to grow by 3 – 4 %. Cape Town Tourism is confident about the benefit of the massive Asian travel market, and our suitable weather in the low season to accommodate these travellers.

* Tourism marketing is no longer about the destination, but about the customer. The traveller can be segmented as follows:

* the “too busy to care” traveller, who can not be bothered to give destination or product feedback

* Travellers leading complex lives and whose finances are under pressure, working harder and their leisure time reducing.

* Travellers looking for simplicity and a return to basics. Their mantra is : “Slow living, slow food and slow travel”

* Wealthy travellers are harder to please, and set higher demands from the destinations they visit.

* Sustainability is now vital, and no longer a ‘nice to have’. All elements in the tourism cycle need to be environmentally sustainable.

* Despite an improvement in the economic well-being of the world since the recession struck three years ago, tourists are still being careful with their money. Tourism spend is expected to increase by 7 % this year.

* The tourism businesses that can understand what makes their “customers tick” will be the ones that will “lead the way to prosperity”.

* Neuromarketing is the new ‘science’ of communication, and is a recognition that up to 95 % of all decisions are made subconsciously. Marketing communication is moving toward imagery and language that can influence the subconscious decision-making of travellers. Four types of customers are identified:

* The Economical Customer relates to data, facts and efficiency

* The Relationship Customer relates to harmony, partnership, trust and a personal approach

* The Trendsetter Customer relates to opportunities, gut feeling and creativity

* The Exclusive Customer relates to aesthetics, quality and vision.

* Finally, the ability to communicate in an instant is the “most interesting innovation in tourism marketing”, writes Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold. Social Media is the communication tool which allows information to be personalised to travellers, and shared with them instantly.

To market a city brand such a Cape Town effectively, it must be authentic, it must appeal to locals first, it must have emotional pull, and must have real stories to tell, said Mrs Helmbold. She also said that travellers spend the most time of their holiday experience in the “planning and memory phase of their holidays and sharing their experiences now takes place on Facebook and Twitter”, the holiday album becoming something of the past.

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

All purchasers of tickets to the 2010 FIFA World Cup are presented with a “2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Official Ticket Guide”, which contains 42 pages of information about the ten stadiums as well as all the rules and regulations, in heavy legal terms, pertaining to entering the stadiums and watching the matches.

The rules are the following:

1. Lost tickets will not be replaced

2. Stadiums are open three hours prior to matches (4 hours for the Opening and Final matches). Ticketholders are urged to arrive as early as possible

3. Tickets are not sold at the stadiums nor can be collected from there.

4. “…Ticket Applicants may not sell, offer for sale, resell, donate or otherwise transfer their Ticket in any way, without the specific prior written approval of FIFA”.

5. Items that one may not bring into the stadium include fireworks, helmets, weapons, hammers, flammable spray cans, laser pointers, umbrellas (interesting, given the winter weather likely for Cape Town particularly!), all for security reasons, nor “alcohol or drugs”, “bottles, cups, jugs or cans”, or anything in Tetra packaging.

6. One may not stand on the seats or “climb on any structures”; throw any items on the pitch; block or obstruct walkways, entrances or emergency exits; access any prohibited areas; or “act in a confrontational manner to other spectators or stadium officials”.

7. Importantly, one may not leave the stadium during the match at all, nor in the interval, to buy some food at McDonalds in Cape Town, for example, as one will not be let back into the stadium – there is no pass or system to record that one arrived with a ticket.

8. One should expect security checks, including “submitting to inspections, body checks, and removal of items that are prohibited to use , possess, hold or bring into the Stadium on match days”

9. Flagpoles and banner poles are prohibited. Flags bigger than 2 x 1,5 meters are prohibited.

10. Clothing or promotional items with visible branding supporting ” racist, xenophobic cause, charity, or ideological concern” is prohibited.

11. No animals are allowed!

12. No “ladders, stools, (folding) chairs, boxes, cardboard containers, large bags, rucksacks, suitcases or sportsbags” are allowed.

13. Large quantities or rolls of paper are prohibited!

14. Branded vuvuzelas are prohibited.

15. Only cameras with rechargeable batteries are allowed. Video cameras are prohibited.

16. “Computers or other devices used for the purposes of transmitting or disseminating sound, pictures, description of results of the results via the internet or other forms of media” (would this include i-Phones and Blackberries?)

17. One is requested to not litter

18. Smoking is not allowed inside the seating area or on the pitch. There are designated smoking zones.

19. One may not enter the pitch.

20. Payment inside the stadiums for any food, drinks etc. can only be made via VISA credit card or cash (this implies that one cannot pay with any other credit card brand!).

21. One may not arrive at the stadium under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

22. Material of any recordings of any kind of any matches can be used by FIFA free of charge, yet one is prohibited from recording any matches other than for “private use”.

23. No promotional items or clothing worn on a match day in a stadium may promote a brand

What is interesting is that there is no reference to food being brought into the stadium, being prohibited, according to media reports.

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