The City of Cape Town, together with key stakeholders – some from the film and media sector – met on Tuesday (June 12) to find a way forward to make the vision of Cape Town becoming the filming hub of Africa a reality. This in turn brings about a number of opportunities and benefits for the tourism industry.

University of Pretoria’s Senior Researcher for the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies, Charlene Herselman told Tourism Update that Cape Town is becoming a go-to destination for film tourism, and in her opinion, is already the ‘film city’ in Africa. “Film tourism is taking off,” she comments.

Taking Los Angeles in the US out of the equation, as it is already considered the international film destination of choice, Herselman lists Vancouver in Canada, Atlanta in the US, and London in the UK as the next top film destinations, with Cape Town almost on par. 

According to Herselman, there are two legs to film tourism. Firstly, the promotion film does for a location like Cape Town, as it markets the destination, advertising it on a global scale. Secondly, people travel to see filming locations, which in turn boosts tourism in the region. “This kind of promotion attracts international visitors, in much the same way that visiting the fountain that features in the opening credits of TV series, Friends, gets people motivated to book tickets to New York,” adds Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism.

Herselman has noticed an increase in interest in film tourism over the last few weeks, elaborating: “South Africans are becoming aware that this is a growing market and are starting to take interest.”

Duminy adds: “The film industry is built on immense sums of money; investors believe in projects that take hard work to become reality, but investor confidence can produce fantastic dividends. We’ve seen this in tourism: as the sector grows and events develop larger profiles, investor confidence leads to more hotel developments, bigger conferencing capabilities and, alongside those, job creation that offers our locals the opportunity to support families and grow in terms of skills development.”

According to a recent film study, Cape Town’s film industry contributed approximately R3.5bn (€225m) to the local economy in 2015, and in the process created over 10 000 direct and indirect job opportunities.

“Film tourism has a wider geographical spread of benefits,” explains Herselman, who says if one looks at where the film industry goes, it is often to off-the-beaten-track destinations, and if local communities embrace this niche market, tourism can further flourish.

The fast-growing film tourism industry is a lucrative market according to Herselman, who suggests that further groundwork needs to be done to fully unleash the benefits of this niche segment.

Cape Town has been riding the crest of the wave as a top location for the film and media sector for a number of years. However, this trend has recently taken a downturn, not just locally but on a global scale. There are many challenges that have caused the industry to be in the state of flux in which it finds itself today, as a result of the downturn that is happening within a short space of time.

The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, and Social Services, JP Smith says: “As a forward-looking globally competitive city, we are committed to removing constraints and barriers to ensure that the industry achieves success while working here in Cape Town. It is about creating the right landscape with our services and authority, supporting the value chain, and making it easier for the industry to do business in Cape Town.”

The City’s future plans are to significantly increase the awareness of Cape Town as a preferred film and media destination, with a strong value proposition.

“We cannot fix the challenges overnight; there has to be a clear vision and strategy that we all work towards achieving, as partners. The City has kick-started this strategy with the freezing of the filming tariff which was approved by Council last month as part of a medium- to long-term growth plan,” comments Smith.

Other tactical interventions to revive the industry include:

• A review and development of a new film policy for the City of Cape Town.
• Developing a film strategy.
• A review of the current filming by-law.
• Resolving the film commission question.
• Re-engineering the City’s film office.
• Working with all stakeholders and sectors to promote, grow and develop the industry.

“Culture, diversity, scenic venues and collaborative atmosphere will ensure that our reputation continues to grow,” concludes Duminy.