Cape Town Tourism needs to become less dependent on public funding and privatiszation may be the way to go, according to CTT chairman, Ian Bartes.
Speaking at the membership association’s annual general meeting in the city on Tuesday night, he said CTT hoped to increase its overall income from R44m in 2009 to R66m by 2013, giving a ratio of public to non-public funding of 60:40.
The grant from the City of Cape Town for the year ending June 2009 was R36m while CTT itself generated R7,3m, less than budgeted for but nevertheless a 2,6% increase on the year before. Total income for 2009 was R43,8m, total expenditure R41,2m, leaving a R2,5m net profit that is being used to revamp the visitor information centre in Burg Street at present. CTT plans to increase its self-generated revenue to R9,3m in 2009/10, while also expecting an increased grant from the city of R39m.
Bartes called on the organisation to next year target a wider catchment area for membership through a Cape Town Beyond our Border campaign and to develop an events and business tourism strategy to solve seasonality problems.
He said CTT’s focus in 2009/10 would be:
* a commercial business development strategy focusing on retail, use of technology to upgrade the visitor services network, and expansion of a patron partnership programme with the corporate sector.
* Joint marketing agreements with the tourism industry to expand private-sector funding contributions.
* Joint marketing agreements with airlines to stimulate direct travel to Cape Town.
* Greater investment in PR and guest relations.
* Expanding joint marketing plans with provincial marketer Cape Town Routes Unlimited with the focus on 2010, business tourism, major city events, e-business, trade shows and exhibitions.
Three new board members were (re)elected during the AGM, each for a period of three years. They are chairman Ian Bartes, who is also manager service standards and quality assurance at Airports Company South Africa (Cape Town); Rashid Toefy, ceo of the Cape Town International Convention Centre; and Guy Lundy, ceo of Accelerate Cape Town.
