CAPE Town, despite its beauty and many icons, will not sell itself much longer, because of tough competition internationally. Innovative, creative and seductive marketing and  strong e-marketing and e-commerce platforms are needed to ensure that Cape Town remains an attractive tourist destination.
 
This was the message from Cape Town Tourism ceo, Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold, when she addressed the membership association’s annual general meeting attended by 900 people in the city on Tuesday night.
 
She said CTT’s new leadership vision for 2020 was that Cape Town:

* would be recognised as one of the top cities in the world to live, visit, study and invest in
* would double its tourism income
* would use the Fifa World Cup as a springboard to create an economic legacy and unite Capetonians
* would solve its seasonality problems. “We must create experiences that customers want rather than spend a fortune finding customers who want our experiences,” Mariëtte said. This meant investment in:

* public/private partnerships
* joint marketing
*  technology and the Internet She said CTT now focused on the following four priorities: 1) To host a successful Fifa World Cup in 2010: CTT’s actions were aimed at inspiring confidence that Cape Town was ready for the event; excite its citizens with a series of ‘Cape Town: Live it, Love it, Louder!’ campaigns; and inspire ownership of the event. With this in mind, CTT had already launched a Citizens Activation Campaign and a dedicated 2010 website.
2) To realise the long-term promotional legacy of the World Cup: In this regard, CTT developed a dedicated 2010 marketing master plan. Most resources would be spent on in-destination and local marketing initiatives, while focusing on PR and media management in key source markets. A new customer-focused website (www.capetown.travel) and a dedicated 2010 mini website were launched. A Facebook fan page for Cape Town signed up 44 000 members in less than a month from all over the world. CTT also got permission from Fifa for a Cape Town Soccer Brand logo.
3) To position Cape Town as a year-round destination: CTT developed a Cape Town 365 strategy to address seasonality, focusing on events and business tourism.
4) Cape Town at large: This strategy aimed at unlocking the unexplored corners of greater Cape Town to spread the benefits of tourism. CTT, the industry and communities were collaborating to produce a series of new maps, mini guides and information for the website.