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Cape Town Tourism has not rested on its laurels after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. With a need to capitalise on recent positive international television coverage, whilst also staying top of mind with national travellers, Cape Town Tourism has launched a winter season campaign called ‘Cape Town is Cool’.
Playing on the idea that Cape Town is ‘cool’ as in enjoyable and ‘cool’ not cold; the campaign runs on Cape Town Tourism’s website capetown.travel from 20 July until end September 2010.
Members have been invited to submit great value-for-money deals on accommodation, tours and car hire, to boost post-World Cup tourism and counter seasonality.
The web space is supported by a live read programme on Radio 702 in Gauteng and there will also be a rollout of Gauteng-based billboards to reinforce the message and help the public locate the specials.
Internationally, the campaign is mirrored by destination banner ads in select regions on top international citizen review site, Tripadvisor.com (who also recently voted Cape Town as one of their users Top 25 Destinations in the World). The international campaign will roll out on Tripadvisor.com in Cape Town’s European key source markets; as well as to potential new markets exposed to Cape Town by the 2010 FIFA World Cup, namely Brazil, India and the Middle East.
The power of the internet was well demonstrated during the FIFA World Cup when emarketing and the web were key focus areas for Cape Town Tourism’s World Cup marketing strategy. Cape Town Tourism’s website traffic saw over 135 000 visits over the four week FIFA World Cup period compared to only 60 000 visits for May 2010. Almost 7 000 of these visits were via mobile phones and Cape Town Tourism’s mobi site. Cape Town Tourism’s ‘I ¦ Cape Town’ Facebook Fan Page also proved to be invaluable, growing by 28 000 fans throughout the tournament.
Says Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold; “The World Cup really taught us that Cape Town is a City for all seasons. 69.7% of accommodation respondents said visitors found the weather to be much better than they had expected. Crowds of people moved easily and happily on foot and there was plenty to keep people entertained. Winter in Cape Town is wonderful. There are warm fires, gourmet foods, excellent wine, theatre, art, music and more. As we move into spring, visitors will enjoy all of these things and also whale watching and the burst of flowers in our neighbouring regions. In fact, winter and spring see nature at its most beautiful in the Cape. With value-for-money specials making the proposition all the more alluring, it’s a great time to be visiting Cape Town.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
