Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* AirBnB is increasing in popularity, and becoming a greater threat to hotels, especially as it is accepting hotel room listings at its attractive 3% commission compared to the norm of 15-25%, and because the guests are verified, reports MarketWatch!
* Reports speculate that the Formula One could be held in Cape Town Continue reading →
Yesterday afternoon Anton Groenewald, Executive Director of the City of Cape Town’s new TEAM (Tourism, Events, Arts, Marketing) Directorate, addressed the French networking group CAP40 at the Alliance Française on the topic ‘Perspective on strategic and policy intiatives to grow the Tourism business in Cape Town‘. He was described as the ‘keyholder that can unlock tourism to the Cape’. Groenewald has become the most powerful person in Tourism in Cape Town, and has a considerable budget.
Groenewald is an interesting man, very honest (often at his own expense) and direct, very goal-orientated, non-political in his actions, and charming even though he may be ruthlessly honest. He is not always ‘media-correct’ in his honesty, yet he does not seem to mind being quoted, no matter how sensitive his response may be to the parties he may be commenting about, as we discovered last year when Cape Town Tourism was blowing its own horn about the number of Twitter impressions it had created by inviting four international bloggers to the city. For Groenewald it is all about the bottom line, his mantra being ‘commercialisation’ to achieve revenue targets. His department has promised Cape Town Tourism R117 million for the three year period from 1 July 2013 onwards, but with demanding revenue and commercialisation targets to be achieved. He certainly means business, and was honest in admitting that a head of Cape Town Tourism who has been in the position for nine years no longer is fresh enough to be on top of her game. He confirmed that its outgoing-CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold did not need any encouragement to not renew her contract. They will shortly start recruiting a replacement CEO nationally as well as internationally. His no-nonsense attitude shows when he stopped Cape Town Tourism PR Continue reading →
The City of Cape Town has not managed to sort out its problems in making the Cape Town Stadium financially viable, and an extensive public participation process is to be launched to give ratepayers and residents in the Green Point, Mouille Point and Sea Point areas in particular an opportunity to make themselves heard about the Stadium and the ‘Green Point Park’ (sic), the City not knowing its correct name! The public has until 31 March to express its concerns and respond to the choice of options proposed.
The City blames the prolonged recession, its failure to find a premium anchor tenant, and ‘restrictive zoning laws’ for the Stadium not being financially viable, and for placing a financial burden on the citizens of Cape Town. One wonders why the City fathers did not research the future viability of the R4 billion stadium, built only for eight World Cup 2010 matches!
According to the Atlantic Sun, City of Cape Town Councillor Bev Schafer said the participation process is one of the largest ever, and will influence how the Green Point Urban Park and the Stadium will be run. She has urged locals living in the affected areas to study what is being proposed. The City has printed 3000 copies of the 48-page plan, and distributed them to ratepayers’ associations, libraries, and other community bodies, with five options proposed for the area:
* The City of Cape Town operates the Cape Town Stadium, with an anchor tenant (very likely with naming rights, which may be at the cost of brand ‘Cape Town‘)
* An independent operator operates the Stadium, with an anchor tenant (same risk of losing the ‘Cape Town‘ brand)
* The anchor tenant is the operator too
* The City of Cape Town operates the Stadium, without an anchor tenant, or an independent operator runs the Stadium, without an anchor tenant
* A public/private partnership between the City and the private sector.
Mayor Patricia de Lille is quoted as saying that the public participation process is designed to find a long term sustainable solution for the Cape Town Stadium. The Cape Town Stadium and the Green Point Urban Park generated R13 million in the 12 month period since August last year, compared to a reported cost of more than R50 million per annum. Mayor de Lille shared the plans to increase the revenue, which include the refurbishment of the Stadium Visitor Centre; the introduction of an on-line Fan Retail Store by the end of 2013; the creation of a conference facility; more mobile food and beverage vending machines will be allowed on the 6th floor and in the external podium area; Ajax soccer club has signed a three year deal to use the Stadium for its practice sessions; the City is still negotiating with Western Province Rugby to move to the Stadium; Big Concerts is bringing big acts such as Justin Bieber and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers; and a hotel option has been expressed, as has a hospital, a sports clinic, and a sports-related education facility. For the Green Point Urban Park it is proposed to build an eco-centre, and to open both a tearoom and a ‘green café’. In the Business Plan Mayor de Lille writes that making the Cape Town Stadium viable will help make Cape Town the Events Capital of Africa!
City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Marketing Grant Pascoe said that they have received four proposals for motor racing events, including Formula One, but expressed concern and sensitivity for the residents in the area, saying that events must be spread across all of Cape Town and not just be concentrated in the Green/Mouille/Sea Point areas, and that residents in these areas have tolerated much disturbance already! ‘I don’t want to burden this area and irritate them to a point that we start (fighting) all over again’, he is quoted as saying. The Green Point Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association has been critical of the traffic problems which were caused by the Linkin Park and Lady Gaga concerts held at the Stadium recently.
The five options sound similar but have vastly different implications from a branding perspective, and the ratepayer burden in funding the loss in operating the Stadium, but probably make little impact on the residents on the area. What is of concern is the attempt to turn the Stadium area into a late-night party area with restaurants and bars, as well as shops, creating more noise! The building of two four-storey buildings, one to house a hotel, sport science centre or offices, and one for parking, will cause further congestion when events are hosted at the Cape Town Stadium!
‘Business Plan for Cape Town Stadium and Green Point Park’
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
There is regular talk of a Grand Prix coming to Cape Town. The latest bid, one of three, proposes a Monaco-style street Grand Prix in September 2013, to be held in Sea Point, Green Point and Mouille Point, reports the Cape Argus.
The Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Company (Pty) Limited was invited by Formula One’s Ernie Ecclestone to present a proposal before the beginning of the new Formula One season in March. A 5,3 km route is proposed, which will have Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop, with magnificent benefits for tourism, given the TV coverage that the event would attract. The route includes the Cape Town Stadium, which is proposed as the start and end to the Grand Prix route.
The Bid Company’s Chief Communication Officer, Esther Henderson, said of the bid: “Green Point is ideal for a street circuit like the one in Monaco because we have so many beautiful sights in the area. So while Monaco is the “French Riviera” we can have the “African Riviera” in Cape Town”.
Western Cape Minister of Tourism Alan Winde said he had not yet been approached by the Bid Company to endorse the proposed Grand Prix, but said :”…..generally, I think this is something we could put within the strategy of attracting major events. We would support that as a city and a province, absolutely. A Grand Prix would profile the city very well”. If the streets in the area were to be used (at a cost of R100 million to adjust them according to the international rules), instead of building a costly new track (at R4 billion), it would inconvenience locals, as the Argus Cycle Tour does, but the race would be good for the city, Winde added. A Grand Prix race usually spans a period of Thursday – Sunday, with practices and qualifying phases, and the actual race on the Sunday.
Last year Ecclestone told the BBC: “(Africa) is another continent where we should be. Hopefully, now people will think what the World Cup has done for Africa would be good for Formula One. It would be nice to think we had then more or less covered the world”
The last time South Africa hosted a Grand Prix event was in 1993 at Kyalami in Johannesburg.
POSTSCRIPT 1/2: The People’s Post reports today that the Grand Prix bid is “pie-in-the-sky”, as the ratepayers’ associations of Mouille Point and Sea Point have ‘slated’ the proposal, but have stated that they cannot comment until they have seen more concrete plans. However, the City of Cape Town’s Executive Director for Economic Social Development and Tourism, Mansoor Mohamed, disagrees, says the report, and he visited China in November to study their Grand Prix circuits. He has presented the proposals from the Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Company and the South African Grand Prix Corporation to the mayoral committee, and has been given the go-ahead to commence with an economic impact assessment and event viability study. The two companies will present their bids to F1’s Bernie Eccelstone later this year. The bid by the South African Grand Prix Corporation proposes a newly built race track on the West Coast.
Last week it was reported that Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold had spoken out about the Grand Prix bid, fearing for the environmental impact of the event. One wonders what pipe Mrs Helmbold was smoking in making such a comment, given that her organisation assisted the Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Company with its choice of month to host the event, and that the event would be a valuable tourism catalyst in such a quiet month (September).
POSTSCRIPT 7/7: The Formula One head Bernie Ecclestone has been quoted as saying that Cape Town could host a Grand Prix within two years, the Cape Argus reported yesterday. Of the three Cape Town Formula One bids, the Monaco-style one going through Green Point appears to be the favoured one. The Formula One was last held in South Africa almost twenty years ago.
POSTSCRIPT 9/7: Cape Town Stadium may be incorporated in the Cape Town Formula One course if Grand Prix SA’s bid is accepted, reports the Cape Argus. Cars would be driving in and out of the Stadium via the street-level gates, and it would allow up to 60000 motor racing fans to sit in the stadium, to enjoy the action. The grass would have to be lifted, and the area would have to be tarred, the pitch returned after the three-day event. The cost of adapting Cape Town’s current roads for the race is estimated at R670 million, compared to R 4 billion to build a brand new track. Two further bids have been prepared for the race – one near the airport, and another on the West Coast. Grand Prix SA is quoted as saying: “I’ve said that Cape Town is a very sexy location, it’s a gateway location… for broadcast. No matter where you position a camera, you will capture the city’s landmarks, marketing Cape Town”. City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Grant Pascoe, said that the Grand Prix supports the city’s bid to ‘establish Cape Town as the events capital‘ of South Africa. He qualified his support, by saying that the City and the province had not yet received an official proposal to host the event. The financial benefit for the city is vast, and the City’s Mayoral Committee member for Finance, Ian Neilson, has estimated the value at R770 million in tourism value, based on Singapore Grand Prix figures.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage