The second annual Cape 365 multi-stakeholder workshop has been held in order to review ongoing measures aimed at combatting seasonality and providing industry insights and strategies for the way forward.
PURPOSE
The Cape 365 committee includes representatives from the City of Cape Town, Wesgro, Cape Town Tourism, Accelerate Cape Town and FEDHASA as part of the Local Organising Committee (LOC). The LOC’s purpose is to address seasonality as a public and private sector collective, increasing tourism visitor numbers by aligning individual initiatives to the Cape 365 collective and facilitating growth opportunities within the industry.
PERFORMANCE
Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, revealed some encouraging developments from the past year, including excellent growth in Cape Town’s 2016 winter figures, particularly a 5.7% increase in airport arrivals, 6.3% in the major iconic attractions and 9.1% in accommodation numbers.
Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro noted that since the inception of Cape Town Air Access, a strategic division at Wesgro a year ago, over 400 000 airline seats have been added via additional direct flights through initiatives undertaken by the team
Other initiatives that are being aligned by the collective are research and data sharing; events support and promotion; a single events platform; Halal tourism; business tourism; domestic travel; and the narrative and competitive identity of the destination.
COLLABORATION
Collaboration emerged as a central theme for ongoing strategies that would build on existing strengths and create opportunities for cohesive measures to ensure that the tourism sector remains sustainable all year round. This would also address any shifts and variables in the market that may have an impact on how visitors perceive the Cape. In addition, it was noted that visitors have the expectation of added value so creative, innovative means of providing this value should be sought going forward.
“It is essential that we align our messaging and what we’re doing, taking our knowledge and turning it into action. Now in its second year, we have seen the benefits of Cape 365; our winter figures are up year-on-year.” – Enver Duminy, CEO, Cape Town Tourism
“The City has a clear focus on growing employment opportunities in Cape Town and tourism creates an ideal platform to achieve this. The growing visitor numbers over the last few years as well as several international accolades, indicate that Cape Town remains a destination of choice for the leisure traveler. The City is keen to implement different strategies to ensure future growth in tourism numbers; the Cape 365 is one of these strategies that will ensure a better spread of business year-round. A higher utilisation of basic infrastructure during the off-peak periods such as the MyCiTi bus service and Cape Town’s numerous scenic routes, will create further opportunities for investment and job creation,” -Councillor Eddie Andrews, Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Economic Development
“Point-to-point connectivity is a vital aspect in reducing the effects of seasonality and the Air Access initiative is a measurable testament of how cooperation can aide this reduction and benefit the tourism economy.” – Tim Harris, CEO, Wesgro
“There are many different people and organizations working very hard to market Cape Town as a destination. The trick is to work together and to share ideas and information, and to break down the silos that we operate in – thereby giving Cape Town an added advantage over other Cities as we collectively market this inspiring destination.”- Jeff Rosenberg, Deputy Chairman, FEDHASA Cape
“As the tourism sector is such an integral component of the regional economy, we greatly appreciate this initiative to collaboratively build a consistent brand identity for Cape Town. Positioning Cape Town as a year-round destination is fundamental to achieving significant growth in this sector, and we are thrilled by the economic opportunity this represents as tourism is fairly labour intensive and therefore provides a significant job creation opportunity.” – Ryan Ravens, Accelerate Cape Town
