Tag Archives: Mining Indaba

Fabulous February boost to tourism in Cape Town and the Winelands!

February has become the Cape’s best tourism month, with a mix of German, British and South African tourists in the main.  Cape Town is so busy this week, that it is almost impossible for visitors to the city, who had not pre-booked, to be accommodated.

Cape Town Tourism and Wesgro, who are doing no visible marketing for Cape Town and the Western Cape anymore, cannot claim to be responsible for the tourism bonanza.  The Mining Indaba is the single largest ‘event’ for Cape Town annually, and started on Monday and finishes tomorrow, with 7500 mining executives from around the world attending the world’s largest mining investment conference and exhibition at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.   Restaurants, car rental companies, and taxis are benefiting too.

Last Saturday’s J&B Met did not show much impact on visitor numbers to Cape Town, as we saw happening last year already, and one wonders why it was moved to the first weekend in February instead of its usual timing of the last weekend in January. Given the build up to the Mining Indaba, not all J&B Met visitors from Johannesburg could be accommodated with flights and accommodation this past weekend.

The concert with Die Antwoord and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers caused absolute traffic chaos in Cape Town yesterday, with 40000 fans making their way to the Cape Town Stadium, a fabulous venue for such shows. Half of our Whale Cottage Camps Bay guests came to Cape Town yesterday to see the concert, one family travelling all the way from East London.

While the tourism pressure eases off towards this weekend, the following one is fully booked again, just following Valentine’s Day, visitors spending time in our city for a romantic get-away.

Events clearly are a major tourism boost for our city and province, but it would help if they did not fall in the same period, and could be spread out better.  Unfortunately the tourism authorities do not work with event organisers to ensure a better spread.   Western Cape Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism Alan Winde said that the planned expansion of the Convention Centre, making it Africa’s best conference facility, will mean that an even larger Mining Indaba can be organised, and that other large events such as the tourism Indaba can be attracted away from Durban!

A disarmingly quiet March is lying ahead, the Argus Cycle Tour not appearing from accommodation bookings (or lack of) to benefit the Atlantic Seaboard.  Easter is early this year, at the end of March, which will make it a more than quiet April, given that the tourism summer ends at Easter in the Cape.

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

Brand South Africa new slogan “Inspiring New Ways” meaningless for tourism!

After many years of marketing South Africa with the senseless slogan ‘Alive with Possibility’, followed by the short-lived ‘More than you can imagine’, which had to be canned as it had been used by various other countries/cities/brands, our country has a new slogan: “South Africa: Inspiring New Ways”, which was approved by the Cabinet earlier this week.

Brand South Africa CEO Miller Matola said: “It’s a challenge to all South Africans, from business, government and civil society, to build on our reputation for inspiration and innovation”. The organisation conducted market research to test which one of five finalist slogans was most suitable, having consulted widely to create the slogan short list.

The organisation responsible for marketing South Africa, previously called the International Marketing Council, has itself been rebranded as Brand South Africa, and has a new CEO.  The company ‘lobbies and networks extensively among global opinion leaders to shift perceptions about the country and the continent’.   With TIME magazine Brand South Africa brought global business leaders to the World Economic Forum at Davos, to debate the role of Africa in global transformation.  Similarly, during the Mining Indaba held in Cape Town last month, Brand South Africa partnered with the Financial Times of London, to debate the future of mining in Africa.  International journalists are brought to South Africa, to connect with local government officials and business executives, to experience our local life and culture, and to learn about technological developments.

Although the new slogan has just been approved, Brand South Africa is patting itself on the back for its success already, in having moved up one place to 36th of 50 country names measured by Anholt-Gfk Roper Nielsen on tourism, culture, people, exports, governance, and investment/immigration, ‘confirming the steady improvement in the country’s reputation’!   Majola is quoted as saying that his organisation’s focus is ‘on positioning the country more as a business destination and an attractive emerging market on the African continent’.

One must seriously question the slogan and what impact, if any, it will have on the marketing of South Africa by SA Tourism. Our country appears to be developing a series of meaningless marketing slogans, no doubt developed by a branding agency at great cost to taxpayers!

POSTSCRIPT 9/7: Details of the new International Marketing Council TV commercial, flighted last week for the first time to launch the slogan ‘Inspiring New Ways’, have been made available by Bizcommunity.com. The TV commercial features better and lesser known South Africans that have ‘Inspired New Ways’:  ‘Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Baby Jake Matlala, Natalie du Toit, Trevor Noah, Lucas Radebe, Brian Mitchell, Greg Minaar, Trevor Rabin, John van der Ruit, Shaun Thomson, David Tlale and Khotso Mokoena and lesser known ones who have also defied the odds to become top achievers in their fields – such as Toya Delazy, Colin Thornton, Oyama Matomela, Andile Dube, Andy Higgins, Tebogo Skwambane, Nhkensani Nkosi, Emile Engel, Simon Ratcliffe, Zibusizo Mkhwanazi and Fatima Vawda’.

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

‘Fabulous February’ Cape Tourism’s best month, but media report irresponsible!

February has drawn to a close, and has not disappointed the tourism industry in Cape Town in giving it a welcome confidence and income boost.  However, February occupancy in Camps Bay has been on a par with 2011, at just under 90%.  February is by far the most popular tourist month of the year now, which it previously shared with November.

February is attractive to the UK market specifically, and to the northern hemisphere generally, to have a break after a long and bitterly cold winter this year.  The UK had school half term in this period too, allowing families to travel.  The Mining Indaba earlier this month was a tremendous boost for the city.  Our statistics for Camps Bay show that the share of the UK market in February was at its lowest level in the past six years, at only 20%, with that of South African visitors having increased dramatically from 9 % in 2007 to 38% this month.  The German tourist share at 15 % this month is on a par with 2007 and 2008, a welcome improvement after a decline in the years between 2008 and 2012.

In January occupancy in Camps Bay improved significantly to 72%, from 58% the year before, but it was still below the occupancy achieved in January between 2007 and 2010.   A similar trend was evident in December 2011.  Hermanus showed a significant recovery in February, with a 40% occupancy, double that of February 2011, the best performance since 2008.  Sadly Franschhoek experienced by far its worst February ever in six years, largely due to the sharp decline in the number of weddings which have traditionally been held in the village in February, and German tourists being less interested in visiting Franschhoek, choosing Stellenbosch in preference.  The Franschhoek Wine Valley tourism association has done no visible marketing in the past year, other than the hosting of a few events, and its reduced marketing in using the services of a one-day-a-week consultant is not helping!

It was with concern that we read an article in the Weekend Argus last weekend, irresponsibly entitled ‘Tourists flock to Mother City in record numbers’. The article’s claim that ‘Cape Town’s extended summer has translated into the city’s best-ever holiday season, with tourism experts declaring that predictions for a much-improved season have been right on the money’, is misleading, and completely incorrect.  The problem probably lies with who the journalist interviewed as so-called ‘tourism experts’.

The article quoted a number of tourism players, and the statements of most would be shot down by the industry, given their own experiences of the past few months, and how these compare with previous years:

*   The biggest culprit is Cape Chamber of Commerce President Michael Bagraim, who has enjoyed using his position as President to make media statements about any possible topic, including tourism, about which he has little experience as a labour lawyer. He claimed that the tourism figures ‘were the best he had seen yet for the city’ (our underlining).  His statement implies that he may not have seen all potential past tourism information, and it shows in his subsequent quotes to the journalist, including the nonsensical statement that ‘This past summer has certainly been the best, and we hope the upcoming summer will be even better. At the current rate I think Cape Town could easily become the best tourist destination in the world’, not defining how he defines ‘best’!  He clearly does not understand the definition of ‘summer’, and that it still has another six weeks to go, with far lower occupancy expected in this period.

Mr Bagraim goes from bad to worse, by praising the World Cup for the good performance: “I believe that we are now experiencing the rewards from the World Cup, the reason being that so many tourists currently in the city were here during that period, and are now returning”. We cannot agree with Mr Bagraim at all, showing that he was completely out of his depth in this interview!   He added that word of mouth from those that had attended the World Cup 18 months ago, the resultant media coverage, Table Mountain’s New7Wonders of Nature (not yet confirmed for Cape Town), and being named 2014 World Design Capital ‘would help ensure that Cape Town’s tourist enterprise would continue to thrive’ (our underlining).  Mr Bagraim clearly was not aware that the tourism industry experienced a crisis in 2011, and was nowhere near ‘thriving’!  He added:‘The one thing to remember about tourism is that it is foreign money which comes into the city, meaning it is new money that gets recycled throughout the economy’ (our underlining).  Once again Mr Bagraim has not been briefed about the visitor composition, and that the majority of tourists in the Cape are South African!  The rest of his statement would make economists shudder!  We can however agree with his declaration that ‘Tourism is certainly the biggest money-spinner for the city, and it will continue to be so for many years to come’!

*  Western Cape Minister of Tourism Alan Winde quoted improved visitor numbers for ‘Table Mountain National Park’ and Robben Island, but the time period was not stated.

*   Calvyn Gilfellan, CEO of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, issued a media statement a week ago, along similar lines of the Weekend Argus article, and the journalist must have sought inspiration for his headline from this irresponsible media statement about the ‘interim summer’ period.  Mr Gilfellan is quoted as saying that Table Mountain had seen a 25 % increase in visitor numbers between November – January relative to the same period a year ago.  His conclusion is that it proves ‘the impact an international accolade has on the popularity of the attraction’. What Gilfellan neglected to mention was that the improved weather (i.e. reduced number of days on which the Cableway did not operate due to rain and gale force wind) in the past three months relative to a year ago played a huge role in the tourism numbers achieved for Cape Town’s icon.

*   Cape Town Tourism’s Communication Manager Skye Grove was also quoted, in a nonsensical linkage made between tour guides and the increased use of technology, ‘which should spur tour guides to up their game’, she is quoted as saying.  Further she is quoted as saying that tour guides should maintain high standards of quality and content ‘to keep up both with the challenge of technology, but also with the high tourist numbers’, a statement that does not make sense!  Ms Grove sent out a media release last week, sharing informal ‘research’ Cape Town Tourism had conducted amongst its members about their performance in December and January. With the exception of the accommodation members, the sample sizes were not mentioned, yet detailed analyses were provided, and one can assume that the subsample sizes were tiny (only 106 accommodation establishments responded, representing by far their largest member segment).  Ms Grove quotes passenger arrival figures at Cape Town International, up on the year before, which was a particularly poor period of arrivals.  She quoted Ravi Nadasen, GM of The Cullinan, who stated that accommodation establishments had not experienced the same good performance as had tourism products, due to the oversupply of accommodation in the city, as well as a trend to visitors staying with family and friends.

*   Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Marketing, Grant Pascoe, is receiving a lot of coverage via Cape Town Tourism’s media releases, in the few that they issue, and his statements in the Cape Town Tourism media release were included in the Weekend Argus article, once again demonstrating how out of touch the Councillor is with tourism in the city.  He is quoted as saying that ‘the boost in the number of visitors to the city was a trend that was expected to continue into 2012’, given a number of events in March and April, including the Argus Cycle Tour, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Design Indaba, and the Two Oceans Marathon.  Our experience is that events (e.g. J&B Met) have attracted fewer non-Cape Town visitors to Cape Town this year, and even the Argus Cycle Tour has not yet filled Camps Bay, as it has in the past years.

We have previously pleaded for greater honesty and reliability in the reporting of the performance of the tourism industry.  The summer season is not yet over, and the past twelve months should not be the only benchmark of tourism performance, given that 2011 was the worst tourism year ever experienced in the Cape. It is no achievement to see tourism improvements relative to 2011!

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

Mining Indaba 2012 augers well for Cape Town tourism boost!

The Investing in African Mining Indaba 2012, which starts at the Cape Town International Convention Centre today, and runs until Thursday, is the biggest event Cape Town’s hospitality industry has seen in a year, and accommodation establishments in the city are close to fully booked for the week ahead.

More than 6500 delegates from 1000 international companies and 40 government delegations have booked to attend the important conference, this being the 18th year of its organisation and the largest gathering of decision makers in the mining industry, and is always held in Cape Town. Delegates represent resource companies, geologists, fund managers and financiers, in the city to network and strike deals.  Speakers are hand-picked, and ‘represent the who’s who of global economists, international commodities experts, analysts and mining executives’, says the conference website.

Minister of Mining Susan Shabangu is delivering the opening speech at the Mining Indaba, and it will be closely watched for the government’s declaration of its stand on mining rights, in the spotlight when notorious ANC Youth League President Julius Malema called for the nationalisation of the mining industry, which the Minister has already rejected. She has however acknowledged that the mining industry needs transformation, reports Business Day.

Conference delegates will be in for a shock, with the current heatwave of over 35°C in Cape Town, in that the Conference website predicts an average temperature of 20°C for this week.

Despite the Mining Indaba being one of the largest events in Cape Town, the city’s tourism marketing body Cape Town Tourism has no mention of the 2012 conference on its website, its last entries being for the 2010 and 2011 conferences.  On Twitter yesterday the tourism body Tweeted about the size of the event, after we had Tweeted about it earlier in the day.  Once again, Cape Town Tourism appears to be out of touch with what is happening in the city.  Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold is on maternity leave for another three months, and all marketing for Cape Town appears to have ground to a standstill.

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