CAPE Town Tourism (CTT) is preparing to take on the destination marketing of Cape Town, says ceo, Marïette du Toit-Helmbold.
 
This follows a request by the city after it stopped funding Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) – the official umbrella marketing organisation for the province and Cape Town – on June 30.
 
Du Toit-Helmbold says a service level agreement with the city is being concluded that will allow for the transfer of the necessary funds. For the new financial year (2008/9), CTT’s visitor services funding will be R11,3m. In addition, CTT now gets a marketing funding of R24,7m.
 
She says a special general meeting with tourism industry members will be called in August to allow for amendments in CTT’s constitution. 
 
Meanwhile, CTT will compile a task team, comprising experts in e-marketing, branding, destination marketing and business strategy, to work on a new business model. “This will allow for alignment of the most effective existing marketing strategies between CTRU and CTT, analysis of international best practice and identification of key gaps that must be addressed urgently in Cape Town’s destination marketing,” she says.
 
“We will retain a lean structure. Only key gaps within the existing structure, essential to deliver on the new extended mandate and new business model, will be addressed.”
 
She says CTT will remain a-political, industry focused and industry-led. “This allows us to ensure direct industry participation in destination marketing, greater accountability and relevance. As always, CTT will look at this as an opportunity to further strengthen brand Cape Town and ensure that Cape Town and its tourism experiences are best showcased to the world.”

CAPE Town’s V&A Waterfront Gateway Visitors’ Information Centre, which was threatened with closure after funding was withdrawn from CTRU, will stay open thanks to the Western Cape government agreeing to subsidise it for the next three years. “This service is critical as a booking office for all tourism product owners in the province, whether they are in the city or beyond its borders. It would have been a serious setback for small businesses and outlying destinations if it had ceased to exist,” said Western Cape Finance & Tourism MEC, Lynne Brown. She said Cape Town Tourism (CTT) would continue to have a presence in the centre and CTRU and CTT would continue to provide “the same excellent service to its members in a seamless way”.  Until June 30, CTT was contracted by CTRU as the managing agent of the centre.  “We have opened talks to explore the possibilities of continuing that arrangement with a much smaller budget,” said CTRU ceo, Calvyn Gilfellan. “Whatever happens to those discussions, CTT is welcome to share space on the same basis as before and to continue to offer the same service to its members.”