WITH the start this week of the 365-day countdown to the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) cranks up its one-year campaign to encourage soccer fans to stay longer before and after the matches.
 
Called “Beyond the 90 Minutes”, the campaign involves six themed travel itineraries tailor-made for soccer fans, which CTRU is promoting to tour operators, potential travellers and the local market.
 
As the last countdown began on June 11, the campaign went online with YouTube clips of international soccer fans experiencing some of these travel itineraries.
  
“With the economic slowdown it has become essential for destinations to package and present their tourism experiences in an affordable, all-in-one, no-fuss way,“ explains Itumeleng Pooe, campaign organiser and executive manager: international & domestic marketing at CTRU.
  
“To celebrate the start of the 365 days-countdown, we’ve bundled a couple of bubbly South American and European soccer fans into a car and took them on a road trip through parts of Cape Town and the Western Cape. We gave them a taste of the destination and invited them to become part of our campaign’s fan ambassadors and talk about their experiences back in their home countries. YouTube clips of their experiences can be seen on at www.tourismcapetown.co.za (“Kick” on Beyond the 90 Minutes).
  
“Beyond the 90 Minutes” fan ambassadors - soccer fanatics from across the campaign’s target markets who have already experienced some of the special 2010 itineraries - will tell their stories in their home languages through videos on YouTube, blog entries and to the media.
  
To create a local vibe and get Capetonians enthused about 2010 and their own destination, “Beyond the 90 Minutes” representatives on June 11 handed out information and give-aways to motorists at traffic intersections.