The tourism industry looks set to grow to new heights

If South Africa sustains its marketing campaign, explores all the avenues that will aid in it becoming one of the top global events destination while averting negative publicity, the number of overseas visitors to South Africa could increase by between 1.2 million and 1.5 million over the next five years, said Gillian Saunders, director of Grant Thornton Strategic Solutions.

Annually, 10 million tourists visit South Africa, of whom 7.5 million are from the rest of the continent.

The success of the World Cup would allow South Africa to target and grow the events tourism industry successfully. There was a host of international events – from the World Skateboarding Championships to an annual water conference with 30 000 delegates – that the country could target and bid for, Saunders said.

While the profiling of South Africa during the soccer tournament on television networks, in print and on radio had helped immensely to inform people around the globe about the country, the real benefit for the tourism industry was probably in cyberspace, Saunders said to Times Live.

For tourism, word-of-mouth recommendations were best, which made the “mainly positive” feedback on these sites even more valuable, she added.

The tournament’s legacy for the tourism industry included the integration of tourism into South Africa culture and the development of tourism skills and capacity.

“The image of foreign tourists was that they go off and do a luxury safari somewhere and don’t mingle with the locals. We’ve learnt how to be hosts – and this is fantastic for our industry,” Saunders said.

Tammy White, spokesperson for Cape Town Tourism, said an additional factor that could benefit future tourism to the country is that most cities have become more liveable. “With transport development, infrastructure and security upgrades being fast-tracked ahead of the tournament, South African cities are now more liveable and more visitor friendly.

“Had the Fifa World Cup not taken place in South Africa this year, these tasks would probably have taken years to table, address, budget for and implement,” she said.

With around three billion people globally reported to have watched international broadcasts of the World Cup, Cape Town Tourism has projected that if only half a percent of those people decide to visit Cape Town over the next five years, the city could grow tourism arrivals of 1.8 million visitors per annum by a further three million visitors per year.

Perception changed, and a R93-billion boost

“Where people had a negative profile of South Africa, it changed dramatically as people perceived South Africa as a much better destination than originally thought,” said Saunders.

“It was so efficiently hosted, the hospitality created a wow factor, the infrastructure, the stadiums, the superb public transport were all hailed as spectacular. I spoke to several overseas visitors who gave anecdotal evidence of the great time in South Africa,” she told Opportunity.

According to Grant Thornton estimates, World Cup spending gave the South African economy a R93-billion boost.

Of this, 16% came from foreign visitors, 1% from domestic tourists, 12% from organisational spend by Fifa, and 71% from spending by national and provincial government.

Trade missions

Case studies done about Barcelona, host of the Olympic Games in 1992, showed that the city attracted increased international tourism after the event – and South Africa would like to emulate Barcelona.

“Not sitting back and repositioning itself in new emerging global markets should be part of the strategy of South Africa to create sustainability in ensuring annual tourism growth,” said Saunders.

South Africa is doing that, as was demonstrated by the government taking representatives of trade and industry along whenever President Jacob Zuma went on international visits recently.

Apart from marketing, decent political stability and vibrant economic policies are the other factors that could ensure South Africa creates tourism growth, said Saunders.

A potential green heritage

“People in the Drakensberg are crying, saying this was the worst June in years. Others, like SANParks and Forever Resorts, understood that they had to work harder to attract their usual market,” Saunders told Times Live.

“The soccer tourists were not going to hike in the Berg; they travelled in groups, sat in bars and did some short excursions.”

Guy Lundy, chief executive officer of Accelerate Cape Town, told Opportunity most tourist polls seem to have indicated that tourists who visited South Africa during the World Cup would like to return with their families later in 2010 or even in 2011 to see more of the country.

“The wild side of the country is obviously a big attraction. People don’t generally come to Africa to see its cities; they want animals, natural beauty and experiences that they cannot get where they came from. This is especially true for those who didn’t see any of it this time around because they were too busy following football,” he said.

White said the mindset of the world’s tourism industries, as well as the general public, is moving toward responsible travel and sustainability.

The Fifa World Cup gave South Africa a chance to prove that it, too, is moving in this direction.

In its approach to destination management, the City of Cape Town formally adopted responsible tourism practices in 2009 in order to bring about positive economic, social, cultural and environmental influences.

Cape Town Tourism is encouraging tourism-related businesses to sign up to the Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct, and has published tips for responsible travel which are left at tourism/hospitality establishments and in hotel rooms.

Profiling South Africa as global events destination

All the major cities are likely to find it far easier to win the right to host international events because of having been showcased so well and appearing on the radar of international event organisers, said Lundy.

Cape Town will probably benefit most with respect to the conference industry, as it already leads the other two major cities by a long way in terms of its international conferences; but all the cities will stand a far better chance of hosting global sporting and other events than they have up to now.

Cape Town and Durban have identified events as a major economic driver over the coming years, and Cape Town has created an events advisory committee to the City that is helping put together a comprehensive events strategy, identifying events that would showcase the city globally and for which it should bid, added Lundy in an interview with Opportunity.

Hosting future sporting events

South Africa is a likely possible host of the Olympic Games in 2020. The Olympics have never been hosted by an African country, which after Rio 2016 will make it the only continent not to have hosted these games.

South Africa is the only country in Africa that has now proven without doubt that it has the ability to host the Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee will be under immense pressure to award it to South Africa sooner rather than later, said Lundy.

Cape Town and Durban are the only cities that could viably be considered as contenders (Johannesburg is quite out of the running because of its altitude). Durban has already given a strong indication that it wants to bid.

It remains to be seen whether Cape Town also decides to bid (there are many in Cape Town who still have fresh memories of the negative experience of the failed bid for 2004), added Lundy.

“We must stay on top of people’s minds around the world for positive reasons. We can’t trade on the World Cup for too long because already the world’s attention is shifting to London for the Olympics in 2012 and it will then move on to Brazil in 2014 for the World Cup and again in 2016 for the Rio Olympics,” he said.

“We have to market ourselves actively and invite the world back while we still have this positive glow upon us.

“We have to keep up the friendly atmosphere that we’ve been congratulated for and provide world-class service in a safe and efficient environment for everyone,” added Lundy.

“Word of mouth from people experiencing this great place will help to keep growing the tourist numbers.”

The cultural heritage

South Africa’s art and craft industry benefited from the Soccer World Cup, and may see the doors from new international markets swing wide open for it.

The crafts available in this country are not available in most of the rest of the world, and they make great mementos to take back home. Of course, the vuvuzela has also become a global icon now, said Lundy.

“From a design perspective, I think that the stadiums in particular have indicated that South Africa has great design capabilities.

“This sector will most likely experience an increase in interest from around the world in South African design, including industrial design, architecture, art and others,” he added.

“Incidentally, Cape Town is bidding to become World Design Capital in 2014. The success of the World Cup and the international spotlight that it brought us has quite likely helped its case.”

Arts and crafts

Western Cape craft producers netted R589 000 between 10 June to 11 July during the soccer mega fest, as well as developing valuable contacts and boosting exposure of the craft sector to visitors and locals, according to the website www.capetownpartnership.co.za.

The Cape Town Fan Fest at the Grand Parade was the only South African Fan Fest with a craft village, and it generated sales from its collective craft shop and individual stands.

There were also stands stocked with craft products lining the Fan Walk on match days.

Some 137 producers rented individual stands at the Fan Fest and Fan Walk on a rotational basis, 149 were represented through the collective shop, while 19 took stands along the Fan Walk. (Source: www.capetownpartnership.co.za)

The “Memories of Africa, Handmade in the Cape” craft village at the Grand Parade was organised by the Cape Craft and Design Institute, at the request of the City of Cape Town.

In addition, 82 craft producers showcased the best of handmade Western Cape craft and design flair at the Cape Creative Exhibition 2010 in Green Point, while another six craft producers and designers were selected to produce large-scale street sculptures for the Fan Walk. (Source:
www.capetownpartnership.co.za)

“Participating in the Football World Cup activities was a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime experience for over 200 craft producers in the city and surrounds,” said Cape Craft and Design Institute executive director, Erica Elk.

“We can create opportunities for a sustainable increase in sales by facilitating access to international markets for craft producers. We must expose producers to local and international markets and thereby expand the market.

“The way to create sustainability is not to wait for opportunities, but to expose producers. Last week, we took 14 producers to Decorex so as to create the opportunity to make trade contracts. We will [also] take 12 producers to a trade fair in Johannesburg for the same purpose,” she said.

“One of the benefits of the successful hosting of the Soccer World Cup has been that visitors have seen South Africa in a different light, and are more open to our product offerings.

“People will come to South Africa more readily,” added Elk.

“We must make sure our producers are in the spaces in which shoppers move.

“One of the things we have done was to create a shopping map as well as a website that are readily available in tourist shops in the direct tourism traffic,” she said.

Fanie Heyns