Tag Archives: Western Cape province

World Cup Service Excellence drive can only be Mickey Mouse!

The Department of Tourism has announced a last minute service excellence campaign “Tourism Service Excellence Initiative” (TSEI) for all front-line staff dealing with soccer fans during the World Cup, less than one month prior to the start of this world sport event.   While its intentions are extremely noble, and it will be offered for free, a two-hour session will hardly make any difference to generally poor service attitudes in Cape Town and South Africa.

The Department of Tourism has contracted The Disney Institute from Orlando to conduct a number of free two-hour seminars around the country, the Cape Town ones taking place next Thursday (at His People Center in Goodwood) and Friday (at the Cape Town International Convention Centre), at 10h00 and 14h00 on each of these days.  The same presentations will be held in Stellenbosch on 15 May, in George on 17 May, and in Knysna on 18 May.

The Disney Institute is a highly regarded “university of service excellence”, and a company like Pick ‘n Pay has regularly sent its managers to Orlando to improve its stores’ customer care and service excellence.   But it is impossible to change a service mentality in 2 hours!

The Western Cape province sent the invitation to attend the seminars in Cape Town as a Press Release, and it states that one can call to make a booking (a friendly and reasonably efficient process requiring ID numbers of staff, and more) or go the TSEI website www.tsei.co.za.    Dr Laurine Platzky, the “2010 FIFA World Cup Coordinator from Provincial Government Western Cape”, describes the seminars as “energetic” and “inspiring”, their aim being to “give all football guests an unforgettable experience in the Mother City and the Province”.

The TSEI document has the logos of the Department of Tourism, TSEI and the Disney Institute, as well as of FEDHASA, at the bottom of the document. FEDHASA’s has a web address linked to it (no other web addresses are supplied), but it is not FEDHASA’s web address – it is the web address of FEDHASA CEO Brett Dungan’s private Rooms4U booking portal, which has been criticised on this blog previously!

The TSEI document states that customer service should be improved “in anticipation of the millions of guests to the games” (our underlining).   One wonders where this statistic comes from – 3 million tickets are meant to have been sold, but this does not mean 3 million ticket holders, given that tourism consultancy Grant Thornton has estimated that each visitor will watch 5 matches on average, reducing the number of ticketholders to 600 000 on average!   Also, one talks about “games” for the Olympics, but for the World Cup they are called “matches”!   In a “mastery” of copywriting, it claims that The Department of Tourism had in 2008 already “crafted” (did they mean drafted?) the Tourism Service Excellence Strategy, to “take Service Excellence in the Tourism Service Value Chain to greater heights”. 

It then explains why service levels must be taken to greater heights, in that service excellence in the past has been hampered by (wait for it…….) “the negative impact of apartheid (!), a largely autocratic management style (!), the lack of an established culture of customer service, insufficient training, systemic educational concerns, the poor image of the service industry by most, and the harsh economic realities of many workers who remain focused on survival rather than service” (our exclamation marks).  Phew!  

Internationally, we rank in the middle, at 62nd of 124 countries, on competitiveness, in the 2007(!) World Tourism Council Competitiveness Report.   The Department says that the level of service delivery ranges from good to very poor in our country.   That is why it has appointed The Disney Institute to conduct Service Excellence Seminars, “which are designed and focused in creating a culture of service excellence”.  Come on – can a 2-hour seminar create a culture of Service Excellence, no matter if it is presented by The Disney Institute?! 

Boldly the document continues about the objectives of the Service Excellence Initiative, all defined as being for “2010 and beyond”:

1.  “Championing service transformation

2.   Creating a customer service orientated SA

3.   Crafting a ‘solution-minded’ customer service culture in SA

4.   Providing human behaviour solution to SA

5.   Ensuring SA delivers world-class customer service

6.   Touch the entire service economy so that 2010 leaves a legacy”.

While it is clear that not all points are meant to be addressed by the seminars, the last one is – once again, how can they think that they can achieve this in two hours?!

The document states who should attend, and it lists immigration and customs officials, the police, tourism officials, “local government”, as well as private sector front-line staff in tourism and travel, hospitality, petrol stations, transport and banking.  Each participant is to receive a certificate and a Service Guideline Card, for which an extra half an hour has been allowed.

The best is kept for last – the value that a company’s staff will gain from attendance at the seminars:

“*   Engage employees to be personally involved in creating and delivering quality customer service

 *   Explore the significance of performance accountability, ensuring an equal weight value between business results and employee behaviors (sic) that enhances a positive work culture (straight from the Disney Institute literature no doubt)

 *   Learn the significance of creating and sustaining a corporate culture by design rather than default (?)

 *   Introduce the concept of “Common Purpose” as the organization’s chief global service driver” (we are tiny local non-global tourism related businesses in the main!)

The final best is the “dynamic” pay-off line that the copywriter ends off with : “Be Brilliant – Tourism Service Excellence Initiative” !!!!!!!!!! 

If the Department of Tourism’s Tourism Service Excellence Initiative document is anything to go by, its Service Excellence Workshops will be Mickey Mouse!  I cannot wait to attend, to experience this magical 2-hour transformation in Service Excellence!

POSTSCRIPT:  After writing this post, I found an article written earlier this week by Natalia Thomson of S A Tourism Update about the same topic.  She writes that the Disney Institute contract is worth R 9,5 million, and that 250 000 persons will be put through the workshops around the country.   Read her cynical and critical article here.

Read our follow-up article about the presentation here.

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

BBC on top of Cape Town for 2010

The Western Cape province and the BBC have signed a deal, which allows the BBC to set up its broadcasting headquarters on top of the Somerset Hospital close to the new Cape Town stadium, and adjacent to the V & A Waterfront, reports the Cape Times.

A special glass top roof will be constructed on top of the hospital building, allowing the BBC to broadcast the 2010 World Cup from Cape Town with a view of Table Mountain, and of the Cape Town Stadium.  Soccer star Gary Lineker will be the BBC’s host for the soccer event.    The studio will not interfere with the operation of the hospital.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed, the agreement between the two parties prohibiting this information from being supplied.

The official FIFA Media Centre will be in Johannesburg, but Cape Town is a popular location for international broadcasters, says the province’s 2010 World Cup co-ordinator Dr Laurine Platzky.

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

Cape Town Routes Unlimited challenges Cape Town Tourism

Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) is crying foul once again, in that the Premier of the Western Cape and former head of tourism Lynne Brown is challenging the legality of Cape Town Tourism marketing Cape Town, reports the Cape Argus.  

Brown has written to Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille to find a solution to the funding problem, after the City of Cape Town withdrew its 50 % funding of CTRU and allocated it to Cape Town Tourism to market Cape Town.    

Brown’s successor as MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Garth Strachan,  said that Cape Town Tourism was marketing both Cape Town and the Western Cape at Soccerex in Johannesburg  and at the World Travel Market in London in November, and that this “…would constitute a clear breach of legislation”, referring to the Tourism Act of 2004, which designates this power to CTRU alone.   Strachan sees Cape Town Tourism now acting “in competition with CTRU”.  

Sometimes controversial City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee member for Economic Development and Tourism, Simon Grindrod, resigned as Deputy Leader and member of the Independent Democrats last month, to join the newly formed Congress of the People (COPE), reports the Cape Times.   Grindrod has lost his Mayoral Committee position and his tourism role as a result.   

Grindrod first attracted the industry’s attention when he listened to industry feedback about its dissatisfaction with the inefficiency of Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) in marketing Cape Town and the Western Cape, and appointed consultants to investigate the organisation’s ability to meet its funding mandate.  The City of Cape Town was a 50 % funder of CTRU at that time, with the province of the Western Cape.    Grindrod did not like the consultants’ report about CTRU, and last year received the Mayoral Committee support to give CTRU the required 12 months’ notice that the City would be withdrawing its R 24 million funding from CTRU, and giving it to Cape Town Tourism from 1 July this year instead.    The industry was shocked by the boldness of Grindrod’s actions, yet has warmly embraced Cape Town Tourism’s ability to market Cape Town in a more focused and efficient manner

Convention Centre city carrot

The Cape Town International Convention Centre has proven to be a powerful carrot for the local tourism industry, in attracting millions of delegates to Cape Town in its five years of operation.  Business tourists are known to extend their visits to add sight-seeing and leisure activities once they come to Cape Town, and also generate a higher spend per capita than do leisure visitors.

In the past twelve months more than half a million delegates attended conferences at the Convention Centre, and 325 banquets were hosted at the venue.    The current world economic crisis does not appear to have affected bookings, other than in a small reduction of delegates attending in the past month.

In the past year, the Convention Centre contributed R 2,7 billion to the economy of the Western Cape directly and indirectly, according to the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, reports Business Report.   This will grow to R 3,38 billion next year, and to R 5,67 billion in five years from now, it is estimated.  

The Convention Centre is a case study for a successful public/private partnership, with shares in the holding company Convenco owned by the City of Cape Town (50 %), the Western Cape province (25%) and SunWest International (25%).   This role model was unable to work for Cape Town Routes Unlimited, previously a joint venture between the City and the Province.  Now it is solely funded by the Western Cape government.

Future growth is constrained until the Convention Centre receives the go-ahead to extend onto the nearby Custom’s House site.   The planned extension would cost R 1,4 billion, and would be the “greenest” and most technologically advanced building in the city.    It will use 40 % less energy and 95% less water and create 25 % less waste than the existing building, reports the Cape Argus.  Wind turbines will be used to generate electricity whilst ventilating the parking garage, and solar energy will be generated.   It will have a grey and black water treatment facility; with rainwater recycled; a seawater cooling system; and have a planted green roof, all designed to make the building environmentally responsible.   The new building has been described as “iconic” by Rashid Toeffy, the CEO of Convenco. 

Looking ahead, the Convention Centre already has 133 bookings for the next eight years.