April 15, 2003
By Bongani Majola
A SPECIALIST non-profit company has been formed by the City of Johannesburg to coordinate tourism and sell Johannesburg as a single product.
In a strategic partnership with the city's tourism industry, the executive director of the Sandton Convention Centre, Deon Viljoen, becomes the CEO of the Johannesburg Tourism Company.
Wholly owned by the City of Johannesburg, the company will operate through a 10-member independent board, to be appointed and announced by Executive Mayor Amos Masondo.
The City of Johannesburg will injected a minimum budget of R12 million over three years to the company to consolidate a comprehensive tourism and marketing strategy for Johannesburg and to serve as a mechanism by which the City engages the private sector and tourists directly.
Foremost on the new company's list of priorities is to establish and operate a Visitors and Information Bureau, where maps and all relevant literature about the city, including landmarks and heritage sites, will be stored and made available to visitors.
A Convention and Incentives Bureau will also be established for the purposes of selling Johannesburg as the number one tourist attraction. The bureau will take charge of all bidding for national and international conventions, as well as support all major conferences, events and exhibitions taking place in Johannesburg at any given time.
Through a tourism research section, the Johannesburg Tourism Company will compile and disseminate "hardcore Joburg information, as opposed to extrapolating information on Johannesburg from research by national and regional tourism authorities", according to the city's director of tourism and marketing, Mandy Jean Woods.
Woods says the establishment of the company means that her department will now concentrate on its role of policy and overall strategy, "as well as sticking to core government business like safety and security, training, development, infrastructure and investment".
"It's going to be an incredible boost for the City of Johannesburg to have a company that has the right capacity to engage the private sector directly, and Viljoen comes with huge wealth of experience with the tourism industry," says Woods.
Viljoen says he will be encouraging the tourism stakeholders in the private sector in Joburg to play a role as active partners in growing the tourism economy.
"My experience is that the stakeholders in the tourism industry are ready to support these developments to help fulfil the full potential tourism as a pillar of the economy offers the people of Joburg," he says.
Former executive director of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa, Viljoen has served on a number of industry boards, including the Tourism Business Council of SA, the Hospitality Industries Training Board and the Exhibition Association of SA. He has just been appointed president of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI).
During the past two and a half years he has headed up the successful launch and establishment of the Sandton Convention Centre and was the driving force in establishing the Sandton Tourism Association.
Mayoral Committee member responsible for finance and economic development, councillor Kenny Fihla, says the move shows renewed commitment by the private sector towards growing tourism in the city. "The establishment of a new company to facilitate the involvement of the private sector in the City's tourism initiatives also shows our commitment to supporting the private sector and increasing tourism growth that will be mutually beneficial," he says.
"We are particularly excited that Southern Sun has agreed to second a person of the stature of Deon Viljoen to head up The Johannesburg Tourism Company. The experience he brings as a senior executive and the knowledge he has of the tourism industry will, we believe, be significant in leap-frogging the establishment and development of the company and growing tourism in general, in the city."
