An international expert on destination marketing says Cape Town’s strong and recognisable brand must be used to market the city and the province internationally. The local tourism marketing structure is under review as Western Cape MEC of Finance, Economic Development & Tourism, Alan Winde, seeks to unify all marketing under one organisation and brand, a process that is pitting city marketer Cape Town Tourism (CTT) and provincial marketer Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) against each other. Speaking at CTT’s AGM yesterday, CTT Chairman, Ian Bartes, urged for the current uncertainty to be resolved as soon as possible, saying it is impeding CTT’s ability to plan ahead. Keynote speaker, Claes Bjerkne, CEO of Bjerkne & Co, a Swedish destination marketing consultancy, said the city and province should work together to develop a tourism strategy, “but it’s a waste of time not to use the strong city brand”. He suggested: “Let Cape Town be the driving force in the process of developing tourism in the city as well as the province.” He proposed local tourism marketers combine brand Cape Town with topics of interest - such as wine, whales, flowers, culture, golf and wildlife - to entice visitors further into the region. Pointing out that few people knew the provinces that housed such strong city brands as Berlin, San Francisco, Paris, Beijing, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and London, he said similarly visitors to South Africa didn’t know its various regions but recognised brand Cape Town. This did not mean they would not travel further into the province to pursue their interests. The same was true overseas, he said, where tourists combined San Francisco with the Nappa Valley to taste wine, travelled to the Great Wall of China from Beijing, or left Edinburgh behind to play golf at St Andrews. CTT CEO, Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold, also made a strong case for Cape Town to be the brand for the city and the province and for tourism marketing to remain driven by the tourism industry and not by civil servants. “We will not compromise on the industry playing the leading role,” she said. “Cities are the super-brands of the future. Cape Town has all the potential to become this.” Cape Town City Council Mayoral Committee for Economic Development & Tourism, Felicity Purchase, expressed continued confidence in CTT as the city’s marketer. The city will fund CTT to the tune of R38m for the next financial year.