Come for the SUN Toerismeburo OUDTSHOORN Tourism Bureau I Bhodi Yokhenketho NUUS NEWS 1 THE BATTLE AGAINST THE LOW SEASON ACCORDING TO NOKI The May 2006 issue of TOUR- ISM UPDATE has the following to say about the CTRU strategy for counteracting the low tourist season from May to September: According to Noki Dube, CEO of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, the Western Cape has identified the United States, India, Australia, China, Kenya, France, Italy and interest-linked niche tourism as markets with huge potential to address its seasonality problems during May to September. CTRU maintains that research has shown that these tourists tended to travel around that time of the year and their interests were matched by what the province had to offer in terms of golf, wildlife, culture and scenery. Miss Dube stated that the US market is hugely interested in golf and there is massive potential for business tourism, particularly corporate meetings and incentive travel. Dube also said that awareness of South Africa and the Western Cape was still relatively low in the US, but much work was being done by SA Tourism at national level to raise broader awareness. She stated that the Western Cape Tourism Industry was also becoming more pro-active in targeting the US market. The Western Cape had received about 112 000 visitors from the US in 2004 and its potential target is seven million. She added that we were currently receiving 42 000 visitors from Australia with a potential outbound market of three million from Australia. She said that the Australian market is regarded as a high-spend market with good potential for geographic spread, business and leisure tourism. NOG SJOP & SJERRIE - MORE SOUP! Die Oudtshoorn Toerismeburo nooi u almal vriendelik uit na n sop & sjerrie aand by Cango Ostrich Farm op Woensdag, 31 Mei 2006 om 19:00. Die aand word goedgunstiglik vir ons geborg deur Cango Ostrich Farm en Kango Wyne. Ons sou graag wou dat ons lede dit sien as n informele aand om met mekaar te gesels en te netwerk. Verder sal ons dit waardeer indien u ons ten opsigte an u teenwoordigheid by die funksie verwittig voor of op 22 Mei 2006 by 044 279 2532/3. _ The Oudtshoorn Tourism Bureau invite you all to attend a Soup & Sherry Evening at Cango Ostrich Farm on Wednesday, 31 May 2006 at 19:00. The. evening is kindly sponsored by Cango Ostrich Show Farm and Kango Wines. We would like this to be an informal networking evening. We shall appreciate your respondiing to our invitation before or on 22 May 2006 at telephone number 044 279 2532/3 Daar sal ook tydens die aand n uitstalling wees van persberigte oor ons omgewing vir die tydperk Julie 2005 tot Mei 2006 Another strategy for addressing seasonality was to target niche markets, such as medical tourism, golf, weddings, wine and food, flowers, cycling,wellness and gay tourism. Dube said the aim was to use existing events as key anchors to raise awareness of these niches and to broaden the spread of experiences available in the Western Cape and so to entice people to come back. From our office we are targeting the entire local Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events markets. We also believe that more should be done to draw national tourists to our region during the low season. The secret is out: Kwagga reads German Tourism Magazines There will also be an exhibition of press reports on Oudtshoorn for the period July 2005 to May 2006. LEES OOK - ALSO READ BACKPACKERS 2 NEW FACES 2 INDABA NEWS 3 EDUCATIONALS 4 THANDO s INDABA 4 GALLERY 5 Volume 2, Issue 4 15 May 2006 BETROKKENHEID BY KKNK Vanjaar is daar op eksperimentele basis aan ons lede geleentheid gegee om tydens die KKNK uit te stal en spesiale aanbiedings en winterpakette aan die ongeveer 200 000 feesgangers te versprei. Heelwat van ons produkte het uitstallings gehad en hoewel die venue nie die beste was nie, was dit ten minste n begin ten opsigte van nouer samewerking tussen die KKNK en die OTB. Daar sal weer in die toekoms gepoog word om op n meer effektiewe wyse gebruik te maak van die bemarkingsgeleentheid wat die KKNK ons jaarliks bied. Eden Distriksmunisipaliteit se uitstalling tydens die KKNK Buffelsdrift Game Lodge se uitstalling tydens die KKNK To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. Joseph C Pearce
2 Page 2 BACKPACKERS ARE MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN TOURISM ECONOMY The first TOURISM TATLER of 2006 contains an article reporting a study made by University of Cape Town marketing honours students on backpacking in South Africa. The study was commissioned by Backpacking South Africa Western Cape and Baz Bus. The following interesting results of the study bode well for the local and regional tourism industry: Backpacking tourists desire for unorganized travel within less frequented tourist destinations, along with their motivations to experience new cultures and environments suggest that South Africa is a prime backpacking tourism destination and that backpacking has the current and future potential to aid in the development of the South African economy. The majority of the respondents were students between the ages of 21 and 25, they traveled with a partner, they hailed mostly from the United Kingdom and Europe and they exhibited similarities in terms of gender with a marginal skew towards females. The average spend of the respondents was R12 611.72 with the maximum spend of R60 000 per trip. This finding should be used to encourage investment into the South African backpacking tourism market. It was clear that the majority of respondents frequented mainstream tourism destinations in South Africa such as the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal. The respondents also displayed the desire to visit more rural regions. This fact suggests that they inject substantial tourism benefits into rural regions economies. Backpacking tourists in South Africa spend 45% of their food budgets at local supermarkets, and 38% of their food budgets at local restaurants. They also spend a significant 5% of their food budgets at street vendors. Most backpackers visit a minimum of 3 regions during each trip and enjoy a diversity of activities including visiting the beach, national parks and guided tours. The respondents perceptions of South Africa MORE NEW FACES IN THE OFFICE It seems that students are presently required to do practical work while they are studying. We at the Oudtshoorn Tourism Bureau regard in-service training as an extra service that we can offer. Although our office is small compared to some of the other local tourism Bureau offices in our region, we manage to take in one practical student at a time and try to give them as wide a variety of marketing experiences as possible. For a week after the KKNK we had Ingrid Meyer, who studies tourism in Cape Town, doing practical work in our office. Ingrid spent most of her time doing practical work during the KKNK, but we had her with us for approximately one week before she had to return to her formal studies. We wish her all the best with her studies. Ingrid Meyer who did her practical in our office Presently Chrizelda Loff is doing her practical in our office. She is a third year marketing student with the South Cape College. Chrizelda will be with us from 2 May to 16 July. Chrizelda Loff who is presently doing her practical in our office It is a privilege to share our experience with these eager young people because they will be the faces of marketing in the future. are very positive. 70% of the backpackers used in the study would strongly recommend South Africa as a travel destination to others. The majority of them noted that South Africa is a safe travel destination, that it provides very good value for money and that it had a high standard of backpackers accommodation. The findings of the study indicate that a promotional campaign should be launched to display the benefits of backpacking tourism in South Africa. It also indicated that backpackers should be issued with activity brochures that detail the various activities in a region and that these brochures should target the unique requirements of backpacking tourists. It indicated that the government also needed to formalise the informal vendor market and set up designated areas where vendors could sell goods in an environment where backpacking tourists feel safe and less pressurised. Age specific marketing should also be done as the study indicated that older and younger backpackers had differing needs. Because the majority of backpackers came from the UK and Europe, South Africa should therefore try to increase awareness and marketing in other areas such as North America, South America and Asia. These markets are potentially large and profitable and therefore they need to be targeted more specifically. Daar is sommer baie dikwels by INDABA genetwerk en gekoukus. Hier is Hein Gerstner en Nic Barrow besig om ernstig oor aangeleenthede rakende Toerisme in Kango Grotte se stalletjie te gesels.
3 Volume 2, Issue 4 NEWS ON INDABA 2006 INDABANUUS Page 3 A large number of local products visited INDABA this year in order to meet and work with the Tourist Trade at the largest tourism show in Africa in Durban. The show happened from 6-9 May. This year the design of the generic and sharing stall for the Garden Route & Klein Karoo received a gold award for excellence in stand design and marketing promotions from the Exhibition Association of South Africa (EXSA). Generally speaking the stand had a more open design that allowed a free flow of visitors. Once again the brightly coloured ostrich feather carpet welcomed visitors to the Garden Route Klein Karoo Region. This is also the first year that the region took a trained group of SMME s to Indaba. They were all trained beforehand. They had a marketing workshop the day before Indaba opened, they were continuously mentored by the experienced people on the stand and they are having a post Indaba workshop on 16 May 2006. These developing products were sponsored by Eden District Municipality. See Thando Abrahams s report elsewhere in this newsletter. Although the set-up was better than last year the Western Cape was in the tented area once again and according to Sue Piper (CTRU) and Lulama and Minette (both CTRU) Kagiso, the show organizers, did not deliver on what they initially promised.. Apart from errors in the trade directory (the information under Oudtshoorn Tourism Bureau was that of Oakdene) CTRU were not satisfied with the lighting arrangements, the floor and the signage. According to Kagiso the signage this year was much larger than the signage used last year. The following photograph clearly indicates that the signage could not have been much smaller last year. HUGE signs used by Kagiso in 2006 Cape Town and Western Cape sign hidden behind a neatly dressed dustbin at Indaba 2006 However, most of the local products I spoke to said that they had a good or better Indaba than last year as far as marketing was concerned. Officials from Cape Town Routes Unlimited who were responsible for arranging the Cape Town and Western Cape pavilion at the Indaba 2006 assured me that they would not be prepared to accept the tented area again in the future. This, however was what was said after Indaba 2005 and yet we had to accept the same area for 2006. We shall have to watch what happens in 2007 and it might be a very good idea if we attend the CTRU Indaba 2007 planning meetings in Cape Town. Finally, an Indaba 2006 Fact Sheet that was made available by SA Tourism contains the following interesting overview about 2005 Tourism Arrivals. It should be noted that SA Tourism excluded workers and contract workers from the data published in this Fact Sheet: Foreign tourist arrivals reached a record high of 7,4 million in 2005. The 690,903 more foreign tourists who arrived in 2005 was a 10% increase over 2004. This growth exceeds the estimated average global growth rate in tourism of 5.5% and brings the compound average growth rate between 2001 and 2005 to 6.2%. The region that drove the greatest increase in tourism to South Africa was Africa, followed by the Americas, the Middle East and then Europe. In 2005, SA Tourism and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism introduced a monthly domestic tracking survey to measure, understand and grow domestic tourism. In 2005 36 million domestic trips were undertaken by over 50% of the South African adult population. This means that a South African took on average 2.5 domestic trips in 2005. Domestic tourism generated about 5 times the number of trips generated by foreign tourism. Furthermore, International tourists direct spend in 2003 (the latest stats of this kind available) was R53.9 billion and domestic tourists direct spend in the same period was R23,4 billion. Rietfontein Ostrich Palace at Indaba 2006 The energetic Young Ones from Highgate Ostrich Show Farm negotiating business at Indaba 2006
4 Oudtshoorn Tourism Bureau P.O. Box 255 OUDTSHOORN 6620 Phone: +27 (0) 44 279 2532/3 Fax: + 27 (0) 44 272 8226 E-mail: info@oudtshoorn.com THANDO S INDABA The following report was received from Thando Abrahams who attended INDABA 2006 as a development product: It was a wonderful experience. It gave me the opportunity to network with many people and companies in tourism. Most of the people and companies such as Travel Agents and Tour Operators were interested in my product (township tours). In the beginning I was surprised when people made appointments with me to find out about my tour. Eventually twelve appointments were made with me. At Indaba I also found a few ideas on how I could improve my tours. I had the opportunity to meet Drum Beat, a company that offers tour guide training, who will come to Oudtshoorn to do the training if all their costs are covered. I had the chance to meet very important role players in the Western Cape tourism industry. From Cape Town Routes Unlimited I was introduced to Noki Dube (CEO) and Linda Mase. Linda had a very good meeting with me and signed me up as one of his development projects. I had the honour to meet Jimmy from Jimmy s Face To Face Tours, who was the first man to start township tours in South Africa. He was very interested in the Art Route we have in Oudtshoorn and also took a few of my brochures to recommend my product to his clients. All in all the opportunity to attend Indaba 2006 gave me a promising future in the tourism industry and I thank Eden District Municipality and the Oudtshoorn Tourism Bureau for making this dream come true. Thando Abrahams and yours truly at our stand during INDABA 2006 RECENT EDUCATIONALS TO OUDTSHOORN This time of the year, with many people travelling to South Africa for Indaba, there is the opportunity to host as many educational groups as possible. Here in Oudtshoorn we have had our fair share of these groups who visit our region and experience our products specifically to familiarise themselves with what we have to offer. On 19 and 20 April we had the CTRU Outdoor Active Educational group of local journalists who were particularly interested in Outdoor Activities. They visited several activities in the region and spent enough time with us to get a good idea of what we offer. Group of SA journalists on the Swartberg Pass We also had Neliswa Nkani, head of the Amsterdam SA Tourism Office, in our region for a night and a day. Neliswa has already arranged an educational of tourism roleplayers from the Netherlands that will visit us on 3 & 4 July. While she and her family were in Oudtshoorn they spent much time visiting places of interest. Just before we left for Indaba there were two groups who visited Oudtshoorn. One of the groups were from the Netherlands and consisted of 11 travel agents brought to our region by AAA. At the same time we had a group of 9 tourism role players from France, Canada, Brazil and the United Kingdom. These two groups also visited several of our ac- Neliswa Nkani (SA Tourism Amsterdam) having a very serious discussion with Andries van Schalkwyk (Buffelsdrift Game Lodge tivities and went home with very good memories of our beautiful region. All the data for all educational groups we know of is available to whoever of our members need it. We would also like to request kindly that all our members who receive educational persons or groups should inform us as we need urgently to meet and greet these people. In this way we build up very good contacts for overseas and local marketing. I also promise to take no more than eight minutes of the valuable time you have with these important people. We also try to give each visitor of importance to our region something to remember the hospitality of Oudtshoorn by. Thank you to every member who was prepared to receive these groups and host them.
GALLERY GALLERY GALLERY GALLERY GALLERY GALLERY GALLERY 5 Hettie (Ladismith Toerisme) skink die 58ste pot koffie by INDABA Volker (from Kapstadt.com) on educational visit at Chandelier