Tag Archives: Winter Seasonality

SATSA appoints David Frost as CEO, driving Tourism competitiveness!

David Frost SATSAThe Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA), an association of tourism operators, has appointed Economist and Tourism Strategist David Frost as its CEO. Given that SATSA represents a large number of tourism operators, and Frost does not fear speaking out, it will be interesting to see how he will drive his association and members to achieve his goal of enhancing the competitiveness of our country’s Tourism industry.

SATSA has more than 700 members who guarantee ‘quality in tourism‘, its website states.  This is achieved by annual assessments which are done of its members, and that all members are bonded, ‘providing a financial guarantee of deposits held against the involuntary liquidation of a SATSA member‘. Members span the transport, tour operator, destination management, accommodation, tourism broker, adventure tourism, business tourism, and tourism service sectors, the bulk of the components of the Tourism industry.  The main benefits of being a SATSA member are the lobbying done with the government on behalf of the industry, networking with other members, an Employee Benefit and Provident Fund, legal advice offered, member discounts, arbitration services, and newsletters.

Frost has a wide experience in Tourism, having moved into the Continue reading →

Cape Town winter seasonality has little chance of recovery! Politicians not playing ball for tourism!

Once again the tourism authorities are paying lip service to Winter Seasonality in Cape Town and the Western Cape, and it is rather sad to see the City of Cape Town scramble to host events this coming winter which in all likelihood will make no difference to the tourism industry at all.

Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold has admitted to the Cape Argus how grave the effect of Seasonality is on our tourism industry: ‘Despite growth in tourism of late, seasonality remains the biggest threat to our tourism industry. Many misperceptions exist around winter being an undesirable time to visit.  This is a critical issue for an industry that employs more than 300000 people and is the second largest contributor to the Western Cape’s GDP. Tourism role-players in Cape Town long ago realised that Cape Town needs a 365-day brand position to fill beds during the quieter months’. Unfortunately in her ten years of heading up Cape Town Tourism, she has not made any contribution to the worsening effect of Seasonality on the Cape tourism industry.

The new City of Cape Town Tourism, Events, and Marketing department has egg on its face, for the Liverpool/Ajax Cape Town soccer match, which was scheduled for next Tuesday, having to be called off.  The City has blamed the Premier Soccer League (PSL) for the fiasco.  Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Events and Marketing, Councillor Grant Pascoe, who traveled to the UK earlier this year to sign up a number of soccer clubs for friendlies to be played in Cape Town, angrily hit out on his Facebook page yesterday at criticism directed at him in the Cape Times by COSATU Secretary General and ANC Councillor Tony Ehrenreich, who called for disciplinary action against Pascoe for the handling of the soccer saga, with its resultant wasted costs and loss of reputation for Cape Town.  Words between Ehrenreich and Pascoe sound more like a political slanging match than a genuine concern about enhancing the number of tourists in our city!

Pascoe followed this up with a poor media release issued by the City’s Integrated Strategic Communication and Branding Department: “City responds to allegations of mismanagement surrounding the cancelled visit of Liverpool FC. In response to the press statement from COSATU, “Livepool (sic) Saga shows a Serious Mismanagement from City of Cape Town”, I am able to comment on only those facts that are known to me, and not on vexatious rumours. The City is inclusive and would consider any and all similar proposals from other Cape-based teams. Ajax Cape Town FC, in good faith, negotiated with the South African Football Association (SAFA), and Liverpool FC with the English Football Association for permission for the match to take place. Permission from both these bodies was granted. In a letter from SAFA to the CEO of the Premier Soccer League (PSL), SAFA states, ‘we are therefore granting your club permission to participate in this International Friendly Match, provided they comply with FIFA regulations governing international matches, and that FIFA responds favourably to the application’. Based on this positive correspondence, the City continued engagements with Liverpool FC, and made arrangements for the game to take place. There are no guidelines or regulations for PSL teams, or external organisations, to follow that govern these arrangements. They are assessed purely on a case by case basis. To the City’s knowledge, no prior applications have been refused before this one. After extensive consultations, including trying to find an alternate date, a solution could not be found to suit all concerned. It is the City’s position that the reputational damage lies with the PSL. Even their sponsors have actively distanced themselves from the decision taken. The City will not be deterred or deflated by this obstacle, and is actively negotiating several other sporting events to bring to the people of Cape Town”.

To address Ehrenreich’s criticism, the Cape Argus ran a story yesterday, to announce the two new events which the City of Cape Town has organised for the winter months.  The first is the Cape Town Performance Arts Festival, which is due to attract ‘between 10000 and 15000 people at the festival from all over the country, as well as international guests‘!  No details were found about the Festival, which is scheduled to take place in July without exact dates specified, other than that it is an arts festival which will include dance, music and other art forms which will be held in the V&A Waterfront, Artscape, and the City Hall, the newspaper reported!  If a Festival of this scale is to be hosted in Cape Town in two months from now, one would have expected that details would have been made available already, and that the marketing work will have commenced, by both Cape Town Tourism and the City’s Tourism, Events, and Marketing department!

In August the Cape Town Design Exhibition Conference takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, with 4000 delegates expected to attend, the focus being on Cape Town’s design challenges.  No further information was found.

Disappointingly the City of Cape Town’s Tourism, Events, and Marketing department has not managed to make any visible marketing impact on Cape Town’s tourism industry in the past year. The odd soccer match, the Cape Town Design Exhibition Conference, and the Cape Town Performance Arts Festival are unlikely to make any significant difference to the poor and declining occupancies which the accommodation industry is suffering each winter!

POSTSCRIPT 16/5: The Pundits website today posted Councillor Pascoe’s explanation about the cancelled soccer match, and wrote critically about the confusion the announcement of the match and subsequent cancellation had caused. It also advised the City of Cape Town to use the official channels when negotiating with international soccer clubs.  The post was written by a Jason Pascoe (relationship to Councillor Pascoe unknown, but hinted at being the son of Councillor Pascoe by a comment writer!), and oddly enough was Retweeted by Councillor Pascoe!

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

Cape Town Tourism CEO replacement: Tourism Super(wo)man sought!

My eye caught two interesting employment ads in a chance paging through the Sunday Times Money & Careers section on Sunday.  Both will have a significant impact on Cape Town, and its tourism and hospitality industry!

The Cape Town International Convention Centre is looking for an Executive Chef, and we say we hope that Cape Town’s best chefs will step forward to apply for this job.  Most attendees of events taking place at this leading international convention centre praise everything about it… except its dreadful food, which resembles canteen food, even at its small restaurant.  The ad positions the Convention Centre as an ‘exceptional centre requires exceptional staff’, and calls for an Executive Chef ‘to provide strategic leadership within the kitchen structures, building capacity for innovation and change’.  One wonders if a prospective chef will understand what is expected of him or her!  The candidate sought must have ‘top-end Fine Dining experience’, and will have experience in Human Resources management, in ‘exceptional customer service’ (how does the chef manage his kitchen and connect with and keep customers happy too?), culinary standards, culinary functions, and managing a kitchen in a ‘multi-unit property including large banqueting facilities‘, an obvious contradiction between the banqueting experience and fine-dining experience sought! Qualifications required are a Hotel School diploma or 2-year university degree (unusual length of time for a degree, usually being a three year minimum), as well as a 10 year culinary food and beverage experience. ‘Historically Disadvantaged Individuals’ are ‘particularly’ welcomed to apply by 19 April!  The recruitment ad appears to want the impossible, and does not appear to be focused.  No fine-dining chef would spoil his/her CV and reputation by working at the Convention Centre, if its focus is predominantly canteen food!

Lack of focus characterises the Cape Town Tourism advertisement that is looking to replace Mariette du Toit-Helmbold as CEO of Cape Town Tourism. Firstly, one can be hugely concerned that the ad is still running three months before Mrs Helmbold’s departure and that it only closes on 29 April, and that interviews will only take place on 16 May, according to the ad. This is cutting it fine for a replacement to take over Mrs Helmbold’s job when she leaves at the end of July, a promise which was made to the industry at the time that the non-renewal of her contract was announced.  Second, an unbelievable set of requirements is contained in the very busy recruitment advertisement, possibly written by Mrs Helmbold herself, being so wordy and with poor wording!  The ad calls for a person who:

*   is passionate, energetic, and dynamic

*    has a track record in business and/or tourism management and marketing (a wide field, covering three disciplines!)

*   can ‘hit the ground running’ and ‘generate high-yield tourism year-round‘!  Clearly this addresses Winter Seasonality, but no tourism body based in Cape Town has ever managed to crack this tough nut, least of all Mrs Helmbold!

*   can develop the business, to increase its ‘commercial income’, to allow CTT (Cape Town Tourism, but the acronym is not defined in the ad) to grow ‘without additional public sector funding‘.  The City of Cape Town has allocated a fixed budget of R 117 million to Cape Town Tourism for the three year period commencing on 1 July.

*   can manage a team to ‘unlock local distinctiveness, unique visitor experiences and new tourism potential, and spread the benefits to tourism‘

*   can improve ‘the performance of Cape Town’s tourism businesses’ (surely that is for each individual tourism business to do?)

*   can maximise the involvement of these local tourism businesses in Cape Town Tourism’s (undefined) programmes.

*   is an ‘accomplished, highly experienced marketer and communicator, boasting (surely a Helmbold give-away!) a minimum of 10 years’ experience with at least 5 years at a Senior Management level‘

*   has a track record of ‘firm but fair strategic leadership’ (this makes no sense, but does alliterate!), which should include ‘innovatively motivating teams’, manage ‘complex‘ (interesting word, to define the powerful and domineering control by the newish City of Cape Town Tourism, Events, Arts and Marketing department headed by the tough Executive Director Anton Groenewald?) stakeholder relationships, and ‘a working knowledge of the industry’ (this last criterion has no link to the ‘strategic leadership’ criterion at the start of the ad’s long sentence.

*   has a postgraduate Marketing, PR or Communications qualification (why would this be necessary as Cape Town Tourism has a Marketing Manager?  Interesting too, as Mrs Helmbold has no post-graduate qualification, her degree majors having been English – a surprise, given her poor writing – and Political Science)!

*   can manage a ‘similar complex organisation‘ (the complexity of it is undefined, and should not be described as such for an organisation with a staff size of about 76)

*   can provide ‘evidence of respect gained from the tourism and/or greater business community, government and the private sector alike‘ (a badly structured sentence that does not clarify if one must show testimonials across all these stakeholder types, or if only one will suffice!)

*   who will meet the ‘highly prized‘ requirements of ‘diplomacy and the ability to motivate and inspire‘

*   last but not least 1:  ‘A track record in tourism and business beyond the bounds of Cape Town will be wonderful‘! (our underlining).

*  last but not least 2, and emphasised in bold: ‘The Cape Town Brand is strong, so keep the momentum up by being the face of Cape Town Tourism, and not only embodying the credo of Cape Town as a city of inspiration (not sure when this became its credo, and what about Cape Town Tourism’s positioning of ‘You don’t need a holiday, you need Cape Town’!), but also motivating staff and citizens to do the same‘!

Interesting is that the recruitment ad calls for 15 distinctive attributes to entitle the new incumbent to step into Mrs Helmbold’s shoes, but has neglected one key component characteristic of her management of Cape Town Tourism, which is Social Media communication, i.e. to Tweet about Tourism events and trends (hopefully without #MommyTweets in future!), and to write in good English (something she is really weak at)! A CEO who does not become friends with her/his staff, and therefore does not turn a blind eye to its unprofessional behaviour, will be most welcome too.

It is doubtful if Cape Town Tourism will find a replacement CEO by 1 July, especially as Mr Groenewald shared that they are not only searching for a local replacement, but will be searching internationally too! However long the search may take, it may be exacerbated by the almost impossible mix of requirements, some contradictory, expected of the new Tourism Super(wo)man CEO of Cape Town Tourism!

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