Cape Town must follow up on its raised World Cup profile by offering "hard-hitting, value-for-money packages" that speak to a world still suffering from the recession, says Cape Town Tourism ceo, Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold.

"International focus is shifting to Brazil and the tourism industry must work extremely hard to cash in on the value of the World Cup."

She was speaking on the eve of the launch of CTT's ‘Winter campaign’, which launches later this week in Gauteng through radio stations and billboards and globally via a partnership with TripAdvisor, the online travel portal. She said visitor numbers and bookings in Cape Town during the World Cup had not lived up to industry expectations because of prior negative perceptions about pricing, crime and the economic downturn. Nevertheless, arrivals were significantly higher than those during last year's winter. "We ended up with a bumper winter but not another peak season," she said. International arrivals were up 24% and domestic arrivals were up 8% on the same period last year. Final visitor numbers will only be available from October when the Cape Town municipality is expected to release an economic impact report. Du Toit-Helmbold said up to 90% of fans had never been to Cape Town before. "They all said they would like to come back with their families and then take enough time to enjoy their experience." She added that if less than half a percentage of the billions of television viewers around the world who watched the World Cup came to Cape Town, it would triple visitor numbers over the next couple of years.
 
She said CTT's weekly tourism industry surveys conducted during the World Cup showed that 90% of tourism businesses polled found the event had a positive impact on the destination and that 62% found it countered the otherwise seasonal trough.
 
"Our focus has never been on the short-term benefit of hosting this event but rather on maximising the long-term benefits and changing the opinion the world has of us," Du Toit-Helmbold said.
 
Alderman Felicity Purchase, Mayoral Committee Member Economic Development & Tourism for the City of Cape Town and Deidre Hendricks, communications manager for Acsa at Cape Town International Airport, agreed the World Cup had proved that events played a major role in solving seasonality problems in Cape Town. Purchase said the city had developed an events policy and was now working on a post-World Cup events strategy together with stakeholders from the events and tourism industry.
 
Findings of Cape Town Tourism's weekly World Cup industry surveys:

• Only just over half (55%) of all accommodation providers were full for the duration of the World Cup, however this was still a 15% increase on occupancy levels over the same period last year. It should be kept in mind that capacity in Cape Town has almost doubled in the last four years, with eight new hotels having opened in the past year.
• Accommodation providers in the CBD and those close to the stadium benefited the most with 90% occupancies in the week of the quarter- and semi-finals. Bookings rose sharply by at least 30% over the last two weeks of the tournament, averaging around 70% for greater Cape Town. Visitors followed their teams and wanted to be in close proximity to the stadium and public transport.
• International arrivals were up 24% -- largely because of chartered flights – while domestic arrivals increased by 8%.
• Major attractions reported higher visitor numbers than last year. The V&A Waterfront recorded 100 000 visitors over the event.
• World Cup fans spent up to four times as much as usual winter visitors, but it's not clear whether this is due to inflated prices.
• Visitors to CTT's 18 visitor information centres were up 47%. International visitor numbers were up 71% and domestic visitors 15%.
• Most visitors hailed from Cape Town's traditional markets: the UK, Germany, the USA and The Netherlands, although there was a significant increase in visitors from new markets such as South America and the Far East. CTT has immediate marketing plans in these new markets.
• Visitors were mostly young and tech-savvy. They used the Internet extensively to book accommodation and as an information source while they were here. CTT's website recorded 135 000 visits and the CTT's Facebook page received 90 000 new fans. Some 7 000 fans made enquiries via their cellphones.
• Travel groups were small - two to four people - and visits were short - two to four days - aligned with the timing of games and progression of teams.
• Bookings were mostly last minute. Visitors were price-sensitive and hunted for the best value.
• CTT's marketing strategy was focused on guest relations, rather than advertising. A budget of R800 000 was spent, among other things, on a Welcome Campaign in association with Cape Town International Airport; producing 400 000 visitor guides; producing a retail range; welcome banners; wrapping trees in rainbow colours and producing new maps at new public transport locations. CTT also hosted 500 international journalists from all major publications, resulting in a return on investment of £16.8m in terms of coverage.