By Sally Grierson

View from Monkey Valley overlooking Noordhoek beach up to Kommetjie

Barbara from CPR opening the workshop

It was a blistering summer afternoon on the Cape Peninsula, so it was a real pleasure to arrive at Monkey Valley Resort and the cool shade of the ancient Milkwood trees that surround the resort. Cape Point Route was hosting a destination marketing workshop and it was not hard to conceive of the destination as we gazed at a long stretch of white sand and sparkling sunlight dancing on the blue waters of the Atlantic. An all too easy distraction from the workshop task at hand.

CPR team, l.t.r.: Barbara, Kelly & Sally

Except it wasn’t a task at all and we were absorbed by the friendly welcome of the Cape Point Route team – a reflection of the warmth and hospitality that the Cape Peninsula region is known for offering the visitor.

The programme for the afternoon was kicked off with a welcome by Barbara Elshove- Schmidt and introduction to her partner Sally Grierson who spoke on destination marketing as a whole. The gist of the entertaining talk was for the 40 odd participants to understand that every destination requires a “travel hook” like a Taj Mahal in India or an Eiffel tower in Paris. The destination adds to the profile with niche attractions, events, activities and offerings to make the area worthwhile for a visitor to choose over another option. It was imminently clear that the Cape Point Route has Cape Point Nature Reserve as its main attraction with an enviable number of lively coastal villages, beaches, natural resources, activities and events to hold a visitor captivated for many days and the Cape Point Route slogan “worth more than a one night stand” is definitely worth abiding by! The region is so much more than a day trip from Cape Town city Centre despite its proximity. Sally reinforced to the attendees that travelers rarely choose their destination based on the accommodation establishment and urged all accommodation owners and products in the area to work closely together to keep guests in the region. This method enhances sustainable economic growth for all business in the area.

Jodi McMeeman

Jodi McMeeman from GeoSavvy was introduced as the second speaker and took the concept of marketing to another level by introducing Market Access. She went through the processes of what a tourism business requires to be successful. Some fairly obvious starting points like a marketable tourism product; business skills and the practice of good hospitality were introduced before tourism product owners were taken through the process of getting their product to market. Concepts included the difference between purchasing an item in a store and leaving with a tangible product to purchasing a tourism product through an intermediary (tour operators, web booking agents, travel information service organizations and travel agents) and using/ experiencing the purchase at the destination.

Product owners were encouraged to define a unique selling point for their product, something that was special to make them stand out from the crowd and then how to value and price their product – much of which is based on competitor rates, the perceived value of what a traveler is prepared to pay and of course actual running costs that must be covered. The latter included all the outgoing expenses that need to be paid to keep the business running from rent or bonds; maintenance; operational costs; salaries and commissions. Jodi spent some time explaining how commission structure works and some terms like special tour operator rates which is essentially a wholesale price to accredited tour operators.

The actual marketing channels are in reality the intermediaries mentioned above and examples were cited from the workshop participants identified by the Cape Point Route as partners for the area – travel trade magazines included the Cape Town and Western Cape Official trade guide; The other guide to the Cape and kapstadt.com as well as South Africa’s Top Spots magazine. Tourism information centres included Cape Town Tourism who was present for product owners to sign up as members. There was a fairly lengthy discussion on electronic marketing and how the internet and internet travel sites could boost reservations. The choice of course is fairly overwhelming for products to choose. Some sites tend to more informational and some are e-commerce enabled for actual bookings. The examples cited were www.capetownhotel-link.com – an internet site that promotes smaller tourism products within a destination. Products list for free and there is a commission structure on any bookings. www.capetownmagazine.com is an online travel magazine which gets readership and trafficking through online newsletters and lots of interesting information on the destination. Other options like the Indaba travel trade show and advertising options from brochures to local newspaper advertisements were also noted as marketing channels. It was clear that each product should indeed work out their marketing plan and how to implement it, as well as to assign a budget to include marketing as part of their operational costs. Jodi re-emphasized the need for product owners in the area to work closely together, to share the client base and keep visitors in the destination.

In order to allow the information to sink in, there was a well deserved refreshment break where a lot of early networking started taking place as business cards were swopped and business products were discussed. This is seemed to be the start of “social capital” at work as the idea of the destination cemented itself and the understanding of a profitable tourism industry infiltrated to wider dimensions. Once tourism is sustainable, there are more job employment opportunities which creates a stable economy, less hunger, less crime and a more profitable region for all members of the community.

Hazel Nazon

A stable economy requires good financial practices and financial manager Hazel Nazon took centre stage to discuss what is not usually considered an interesting or exciting topic – budgeting. Hazel managed to simplify the mystic surrounding managing ones money and broke it down into simple terms of knowing what funds you have in your account on a daily basis. One has to know what must go out and look at what comes in – particularly in the tourism industry which has distinct seasonality trends. There are certain issues that cannot be avoided like SARS (South African Revenue Service) and must be calculated for in addition to the usual running costs. It was clear that careful planning and evaluation of the business trends, and the help of a good bookkeeper/ accountant will allow even the smallest business a budget for marketing which is a growth tool for any business if handled correctly!

Theresa Emerick

Theresa Emerick from Nightsbridge booking system followed with a topic mostly relevant to accommodation establishments and the main idea of the system is online bookability for accommodation establishments. Theresa pointed out that being able to check availability, book it and pay for it is critical in today’s fast paced world of instantaneous gratification. Her analogy of going to a store, finding something you like and not being able to pay for it because the shop has no till seemed to hit home with most of the accommodation product owners! A detailed slideshow of how the system actually works for both owners and guests was presented to clear any confusion amongst the workshop participants.

With the afternoon drawing to a close, the marketing intermediaries identified by Cape Point Route spoke briefly about their product offerings and Barbara closed the presentation with thanks to all involved. Questions and mingling then took place at the respective workshop tables and guests were invited on a walking tour of Monkey Valley Resort –all the way to the top of the mountain!

And so with the sun loosing some of its intensity and the workshop participants leaving with more focus and more intensity… the Cape Point Route marketing workshop drew to a close, positively resonating the energy and diversity of the region and the enthusiasm of the people who live, work and play in the southern reaches of the Cape. The Cape Point Route is worth more than a one night stand with its earthy elegance, vast open spaces, magnificent scenery, sense of tranquility and unsurpassed hospitality.