November 3, 2003
By Lucille Davie
A COMPREHENSIVE sales and marketing plan to expand tourism in Johannesburg is at present being formulated through a series of workshops being held by the City and the private sector.
The workshops are being overseen by the newly-created Johannesburg Tourism Company, a Section 21 company financed initially by the City, and managed by a board drawn entirely from the private sector, headed by chairman Aggrey Klaaste and CEO Deon Viljoen.
Says Viljoen: "The strategic objective of the company is to develop and implement a marketing strategy that will not only significantly increase and extend leisure and business tourism in the city but will also promote a successful and sustainable partnership between the city and tourism players in the private sector."
The Johannesburg Tourism Company invited the tourism sector to a series of seven workshops, beginning on 15 October and running through to 27 November as part of the company's strategy to develop a tourism action plan for the city.
The first workshop focused on stand-alone convention centres, with Peter Cumberlege, legislative consultant to Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa, acting as facilitator. Speaking after the workshop, he said: "We were able to prioritise various sales and marketing ideas that were brought forward by private sector representatives . . . We are only too quick to criticise local, provincial and national governments for failing to find solutions to problems and challenges, but the Johannesburg Tourism Company has given us the opportunity right up front to be an integral part of the solution."
There were other positive responses. Dee Mashinini, marketing manager of the Expo Centre, said the workshop was a "watershed" in allowing for "united action by all the venues in Johannesburg". He continued: "This initiative by the Johannesburg Tourism Company, and its decision to establish a Convention Bureau for Johannesburg, means that we'll no longer be competing against one another for local and international events, instead there'll be one bid voice for Johannesburg. We will now be competing against Cape Town and Durban, Casablanca and Paris, rather than amongst ourselves."
Mashinini also indicated that the idea of working with government agencies that had advance information regarding big international conventions, was useful. This included conventions up to 15 years in the future.
Ellen Aucamp, General Manager of Vodaworld Events, welcomed the workshop and the establishment by the Johannesburg Tourism Company of a Johannesburg Convention Bureau. She said she felt that marketing and strategy actions needed to be targeted, and the tourism company was the "ideal catalyst" for this.
Another delegate to the workshop, Julian Caldow, CEO of Delmont Caldow Caterers, said: "Our demographics and geographical location are very different in Johannesburg to Cape Town or Durban or other centres and it was very useful to look at how our venues should be marketed in South Africa and abroad."
Further workshops to be held in November (in Braamfontein or Parktown North) are:
- restaurants and nightclubs, 4 November
- MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions), 12 November
- travel and tour services, 19 November
- tourist attractions, 27 November
Companies interested in attending these workshops are asked to contact Woody or Kevin at the Johannesburg Tourism Company on 011 214 0700 or e-mail woody@joburgtourism.com, to indicate which workshop they would like to attend. Booking is essential.
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