Tag Archives: Suedafrika

Hermanus tourism politics remain Stormy!

The powers that control tourism in Hermanus are holding on for dear life, and are using every possible means to hold on to their power, at the cost of disparaging their members.  A huge fight for their political life takes place on Monday evening, when a Special General Meeting of the Hermanus Tourism Bureau is held at the request of its members, calling for a vote of no confidence in its current committee.

We have previously reported about the Hermanus Tourism Bureau reneging on its CCMA settlement agreement to pay their ex-Manager Storm Kreusch R10000 (Daniel Acker is the labour lawyer advisor on this matter, and a director  of the Cape Whale Coast Destination Marketing Organisation), and this has been reported in the July issue of Noseweek too.  We have reported about the conflict of interest in that the Deputy Chairman of the Tourism Bureau, Clinton Lerm, is also the Chairman of the Cape Whale Coast DMO, that his mother Maxie serves on both tourism bodies too, and that all tourism meetings are held at the Lerm’s Misty Waves Hotel.  Following from the unfair dismissal of Ms Kreusch, a group of Hermanus Tourism Bureau members signed a petition, calling for a Special General Meeting, in accordance with the constitution of the Bureau.  Given the potential stormy nature of the meeting, the Overstrand Municipality has appointed an independent advocate, Professor Henning Viljoen, to chair the meeting. 

As the honour of the Lerm family is under threat, one can expect some nasty politics ahead and at the meeting.  Earlier this week the Chairman of the Hermanus Tourism Bureau, Charl de Kock, who appears a mere puppet of said family, wrote a denigrating e-mail to his members as a first salvo of attack, headed “Information we think you should know”.  The three-page e-mail alleges:

   *   that some members were “lured to sign a ‘petition’ document whilst not having real facts”

   *   the agenda for the meeting on Monday is based on “one-sided defence and accusations”

   *   some volunteers that have helped in the Tourism Bureau offices have sent tourists to their own establishments, proudly adding that members of the management committee “decided not to take any bookings since late last year”

   *   Ms Kreusch’s staff did not collect outstanding monies due to the Bureau by its members, allowed non-paid members to display brochures and to receive bookings, was the cause of ‘wasteful expenditure’ ‘in respect of cellphone contracts and telephone costs, and used the internet for private purposes ‘remotely’ after hours.  Ms Kreusch shared information from meetings with certain members (who were not on the committee).

   *  a member of the ‘petition committee’ intimidated the Bureau staff twice.  “The person is known to us and we will act in due course as it is the policy of Hermanus Tourism to protect personnel from intimidation”!

   *   allegations that the current committee had withheld information from its members, as claimed by the ‘petition committee’, are denied 

   *   the CCMA agreement, accepting responsibility on behalf of the Hermanus Tourism Bureau for unfair dismissal,  was signed by him as “I had compassion (for Ms Kreusch) and was lured into signing a document after being requested by Storm Kreusch to please just allow her to continue her life in this town”!

The e-mail ending stoops to a unprofessional and unprecedented low, and should be reason enough for the current committee to be dismissed by its members: “It is IMPORTANT TO NOTE that if you support the petition, you in fact support each and every action of mismanagement highlighted above and you will therefore be co-responsible for the current turmoil in Hermanus Tourism.  Support for the current committee means that you support the on-going efforts of myself as Chairperson and the current committee to make this one of the most effective tourism organisations in the country”!   The first sentence is libelous, strong words coming from a body that includes the litigious Lerms, who are the essence of the latest Noseweek article, while the second sentence is ludicrous in its claim of perfection!

Mary Faure, the spokesperson of the ‘petition committee’, has responded, by writing that the Special General Meeting has not been called about Ms Kreusch, but is about “several unconstitutional matters”, including mismanagement, lack of integrity, lack of transparency, holding members in contempt (libelous comments have been made on social media), and lack of information, and ‘misinformation’ to members.  One member has already lodged a complaint with the municipality, for the Hermanus Tourism Bureau e-mail implying that some of its members are responsible for ‘criminal activities’, and has asked the Chairman for a public apology.

A complaint about a disparaging comment from the Cape Whale Coast DMO, which was posted on our blog in response to our blogpost about Ms Keusch’s dismissal, was sent to DMO Chairman Clinton Lerm and remains unaddressed more than a month later!  He has delegated the communication with ourselves to his DMO Deputy Chairman, Daniel Acker, who ends every e-mail in legalese, possibly intended to intimidate the recipient: “All the rights of the author, Cape Whale Coast DMO, and its directors are and remain reserved herein. Any response given herein is thus done without prejudice of / to these said rights”.

A further manifestation of the continued serving of self-interest amongst directors of the Cape Whale Coast DMO and Hermanus Tourism Bureau was the invitation of a select number of Hermanus tourism operators, in addition to the DMO committee, to participate in the presentation of their products and services to a  30-strong delegation of travel agents and tour operators visiting Hermanus, a visit sponsored by SA Tourism and SATSA.  The communication was sent to select members by DMO director Joan-Anne Harris of Southern Stroll Marketing, mainly to her clients, it would appear.  The participants were invited ‘to showcase their product/s to the agents and you will be able to network with them and build relationships over the 2 days’, advantaging a select number of members at the cost of the majority who were not invited!  A Hermanus Times photograph of the event includes representatives of Schulphoek Guest House, Walker Bay Adventures, Cliff Lodge Guest House, African Horse Company, White Shark Projects, Misty Waves Hotel as some of the attendees from Hermanus.  The caption reads: “SA Tourism brought 30 tour operators to the Whale Coast this week to give local accommodation establishments, restaurants, tour operators and organisations offering various adventure activities the opportunity to showcase their products”.  It does not declare the elitist selection of participants.  One wonders how Lerm could have thought that including this item in his recent newsletter to members would make the excluded members warm to him and his DMO and the Hermanus Tourism Bureau!

A rare Cape Whale Coast newsletter was sent by Cape Whale Coast DMO Chairman Clinton Lerm two weeks ago, clearly to present a good image in anticipation of the meeting on Monday, and announced that a Special General Meeting of the DMO will be called to address the dual membership of the DMO and of the Tourism Bureaus in the area, which meeting will be held almost a year after Lerm promised it.  He quotes the ‘Municipal Financial Act’ as being the reason for the dual membership, but that is nonsense, as no other tourism bureau we belong to has such a dual membership system.  Lerm writes: ‘a more inclusive membership structure stands to be adopted‘.  Lerm highlighted the marketing activities of the DMO, clearly feeling the need to justify his organisation’s work, and included the launch of the Cape Whale Coast, the contentious Getaway article, coverage in Süedafrika magazine,  attending Indaba (sharing a stand with Southern Stroll Marketing and other DMO directors, another contentious action), a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the DMO and Cape Town Tourism (as a member of Cape Town Tourism we have not seen this communicated to members!), and the visit by the travel agents/tour operators (making it sound as if only the DMO committee members were invited), hardly much to shout home about.  Bravely Lerm has disclosed the hard-to-find-elsewhere names of the nineteen directors of the Cape Whale Coast, but seven of these are co-opted due to their positions as Overstrand Councillors or Tourism Bureau Managers.  Ms Harris is widely rumoured to be the first incumbent of the position of Manager of the Cape Whale Coast DMO, but that will be another story for another day!

POSTSCRIPT 16/7: The Hermanus Times of 14 July says that the events leading up to the meeting on Monday is “the worst tourism crisis ever for the tourism industry in the region, Hermanus Tourism (HT) has been thrown into turmoil”!   It adds that tension has been brewing for some time ‘within the organisation’. 

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

Tourism growth good from Germany

After a long period of reduced travel by Germans, due to the recession in the past few years, they are ready to travel again, and it would appear that the much improved German economic performance, coupled with the excellent coverage of South Africa’s tourist gems during the World Cup, appears to have led to a marked increase in enquires and bookings from Germany.

Southern African Tourism Update  reports that the ADAC Reisemonitor survey, conducted in July amongst a sample of 4 000 ADAC members (similar to the Automobile Association), shows that 71 % of Germans interviewed plan to make a long-haul holiday next year, up by 6 % compared in last year’s survey.  The article quotes a tourism player Dr Martin Buck as saying that “…the tourism industry is picking up speed once again.  The worst of the recession is now over and German citizens are again living up to their reputation as the world’s most travelled nation”.   Almost 60 % of Germans surveyed said they would go on holiday before the end of the year, irrespective of their financial situation, and that they expect the prices of tourism products and services to increase.   The most popular holiday destinations for Germans are Germany, Italy and then Spain. 

It was good to see an advertisement for South Africa in the leading lifestyle magazine Bunte at the end of September, with the headline “Südafrika Hautnah” (South Africa – up close), followed by a sub-headline relating to the Cape: “Zum verlieben schön – das Land am Kap strahlt eine Faszination aus, die seine Gäste nie wieder loslässt” (To fall in love with – Cape Town radiates a fascination, that never leaves its guests).  The ad focuses on German TV presenter Ruth Moschner, sharing her favourite things to do and places to visit when in South Africa.  She mentions Cape Town, with Johannesburg and Durban, but of the six photographs in the ad, two are of Cape Town (Boulder’s Beach and V&A Waterfront), as well as a Cape Dutch house in the Winelands.  Moschner raves about the country as a tourist destination, yet praises its people even more, saying that she has seldom experienced  being welcomed with such heartiness.  The ad is part-sponsored by SAA, and advertises a special package of € 599 from 8 November – 16 December (www.askSAA.com).   A tiny “schoolboard”-style ‘South Africa: Alles ist möglich’ (South Africa: everything is possible) concludes the ad.

A follow-up SA Tourism ad in Bunte last month featured Michael Mittermeier, a German comedian who performed at the Cape Town Comedy Festival last year.  He has been to South Africa three times, and raves about the generous ‘host country’, as he describes it (“Besucher werden in Sued-afrika in den einmaligen Rythmus des Landes integriert” (Visitors are drawn into the unique rhythm of the country).  He expresses the regret that Bafana Bafana dropped out of the World Cup so early.   He highlights the 10 hour travel time between Germany and South Africa, without time difference, as positives, and recommends a safari to see the Big Five, and the beautiful coastal beaches.  Three photographs of the rocks at Camps Bay beach, Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain, and of a Cape Dutch homestead make up half the photographs featured, a weighting towards the region that most tourists describe as the most beautiful of all in South Africa.

During the World Cup the leading German TV station ZDF broadcast an hour-long tourism documentary about South Africa, presented by the charming ex-Miss South Africa Jo-ann Strauss, prior to each match in which the German team played.  Accommodation bookings from Germany flowed in from July onwards as a result, more than we have seen in many years.

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

World Cup puts South Africa into focus, some bad, mostly good!

The World Cup has always been said to have the benefit of showcasing South Africa, and the world’s media are descending on the country to prepare profiles of South Africa.  Some of it is negative, but much so far has been positive, especially in showing off the beauty of Cape Town.

A South Africa-based correspondent for SkyNEWS seems to be in the townships every day, negatively reporting about the poverty of these residents, while the ‘rich’ sector of the country benefits from the World Cup, it is highlighted continuously.

Much more positive reporting is coming from ZDF, Germany’s largest TV station, which is pulling out all the stops to showcase South Africa.  Yesterday, for example, the station did a 24 hour broadcast on its online channel, about our country, a conglomeration of various documentaries the station had produced on previous occasions.  Unfortunately an on-line broadcast is not as powerful as a television broadcast, but it will have attracted a young audience.   ZDF put a lot of advertising muscle behind the 24-hour broadcast, so it created strong awareness amongst ZDF viewers.   The country brand ‘Suedafrika’ is definitely top of mind. 

However, 90 minutes of the on-line broadcast was broadcast on ZDF TV throughout the day, in three sets of 30 minutes each.   The programme started with beautiful shots of Table Mountain, and then of Cape Town filmed from Table Mountain.   It was said that a trip up the mountain by cable car is a must for every visitor.   Then the documentary jumped in contrast to a school in Wuppertal, showing children in a boarding school having to brush their teeth in an irrigation canal, because there are not enough facilities in the hostel for all the children.  Then it moved to showing burning tyres, set alight by taxi drivers protesting against the new BRT bus system to be introduced.   A township resident was interviewed, who positively stated that he would never leave his township : ‘I do not want to change my life for anything’, despite the poor facilities in the township.   Children receiving a swimming lesson in Khayelitsha were filmed, and a sangoma throwing the bones interviewed.   Then the production team interviewed Pieter-Dirk Uys, who initially spoke in German, but switched to English when he spoke about how dangerous it was for him to have mocked the Government when he first started, and melodramatically stated that had he been black, he would have been imprisoned!  (He did not tell the interviewer that he has declared Evita se Perron in Darling soccer-free during the World Cup!).

Then the action moved to Captain Crash, who chases after stolen cars and minibus taxis in his helicopter (I have seen this insert twice already), and then to a Soweto-based Event Manager Tshepiso Mohlala, who is involved in the organisation of the World Cup Concert on 10 June.   A lot of airtime was given to a German wedding co-ordinator from Wedding Concepts, who was organising a wedding at Allee Bleue outside Franschhoek.

Capetonian and ex-Miss South Jo-Ann Strauss features regularly in a ZDF TV advert for the World Cup Concert, from which Strauss and revered ZDF talk-show host Thomas Gottschalk will be presenting for ZDF.  She speaks near-perfect German, her partner being from Munich, saying: ‘Suedafrika begruesst die Fussballwelt’ (South Africa welcomes the football nations).

Other programmes, like ‘Traumstaedte’ (Dream Cities), start off positively, with beautiful views of Camps Bay beach, the Promenade, the Bay Hotel, the Waterfront, but soon move to the townships, and interviews are conducted with extremely negative residents, talking about the crime and drug situation in the townships.   The ZDF reporters talk about Cape Town’s ‘Hell and Paradise’ not the lasting impression we would like to create marketing-wise amongst international viewers.

‘Traumflug durch Afrika: Von Kapstadt nach Kenia’ (Dream flight through Africa: from Cape Town to Kenya) was far more positive, documenting a Eurocopter pilot flying over beautiful Cape Town (Table Mountain and Cape Point), flying 3 meters above the sea, the Garden Route to George and Knysna for some golf and oysters at the Dry Dock restaurant, to the Addo Park for a safari, to St Francis, Coffee Bay, the Hole in the Wall, and then off to Lesotho, reaching his end destination of Kenya. 

In a cooking program with some of Germany’s top chefs, the cooking stars all wore German soccer jerseys, to show their pride in and support for the German team, indirectly attracting attention to the World Cup.

Given that Cape Town Tourism has appointed PR companies in Germany and the U K, and in other European countries, we trust that the city’s tourism body will help influence the content of documentaries of our city, and that they show the tourist side of Cape Town, without having to focus so much on the townships.

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

South Africa scores at ITB

S A Tourism and Cape Town Tourism worked hard in marketing the country at the ITB travel and tourism expo in Berlin, which was held earlier this month.

According to TravelHub,  S A Tourism launched the new ‘Voices’ advertising campaign, which sees Germans being asked to relate their positive experiences of South Africa.    It is planned to have over a million Germans talking positively about South Africa by June 2010.

FIFA and the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 World Cup used ITB as a platform to encourage and inform the German market about the event, reassuring them about the country’s readiness, infrastructure and sustainability, the report says.

S A Tourism won third prize for its ‘Numbers’ ad in the Golden Gate international film advertising awards competition at ITB.

Cape Town Tourism too was active at ITB, and its CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold reported back on the successes her association achieved:    Cape Town Tourism was invited to present its visitor services and marketing innovation to the World Tourism Organisation International Destination Council;   the 2010 World Cup mascot Zakumi was used in a competition, in which ITB attendees could be photographed with Zakumi, post it on the Cape Town Tourism website with a creative comment about Cape Town, to win two tickets for the 2010 World Cup, resulting in 200 images being received;   via a German PR company, Cape Town Tourism’s PR and Communications Manager met 15  journalists individually, presented its marketing toolkit to Dr Michael Kaiser from News Corporation Germany, who will do a presentation on Cape Town to the German Press Club,  Suedafrika magazine will do a free two-page spread on Cape Town, and a free feature on Cape Town will appear in the bi-annual German 1 Golf publication.  

In addition, Cape Town Tourism will be running a winter promotion on Expedia; an educational campaign with FTI, Germany’s third largest tour operator, was concluded;  joint marketing agreements were concluded with Tripadvisor, Google, and BBC News on-line; an agreement was reached with Petit Fute to develop a French guide book for Cape Town;  and assistance will be provided in the production of the official 2010 FIFA World Cup documentary.

However, Cape Town Routes Unlimited Marketing executive David Frandsen, on his return from ITB, has predicted that leisure tourism from Germany will decline by 20 % in the coming season.   He based his forecast on the 30 % drop in bookings received by the top five German tour operators making bookings in South Africa, in January and February this year.    He said however that 200 smaller special tour operators are making up for the decline in bookings received from the big tour operators.   Namibia is attracting bookings from the German market, and has become a trendy destination for Germans.