Fedhasa Cape Chairman Dirk Elzinga has expressed disappointment that tourism authorities have not marketed South Africa and the Western Cape better immediately after the World Cup.

Speaking at media briefing in Cape Town, he asked tourism authorities to “get their act together and to market South Africa and the Cape as long as the window of opportunity lasts”. “It’s a little bit of a pity. We’re disappointed that SA Tourism, Cape Town Routes Unlimited and Cape Town Tourism have not done what we had hoped for.” He said while the Cape’s traditional core markets (the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands) were still battling the economic recession, there was a lot of potential in new emerging markets such as India, China, South America and the Middle East that was being left mostly untapped.

Responding to this criticism, Western Cape MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde, acknowledged the marketing shortfalls resulting from duplications of effort between the various marketing bodies in the Western Cape, saying this was why he was trying to streamline all marketing efforts in the province as soon as possible.

Elzinga said Fedhasa Cape was looking forward to participating in the planned streamlining as it was in the best interest of the industry.