The perfect opportunity to learn English, and the beautiful scenery, the vibe and the friendly people of Cape Town and the Western Cape is what draws Brazilian travellers to the destination. Being from an emerging country themselves, they…
The perfect opportunity to learn English, and the beautiful scenery, the vibe and the friendly people of Cape Town and the Western Cape is what draws Brazilian travellers to the destination. Being from an emerging country themselves, they experience Cape Town and the Western Cape as a truly aspirational destination.
A team from Cape Town Routes Unlimited, the official tourism destination marketing organisation for Cape Town and the Western Cape, has just returned from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the destination participated, for the first time in this market, in a South African leisure tourism show.
“The Brazilian market is a new and very important investment tourism market for us in the run-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We all know Brazil is soccer-mad and expect Brazilians to flock to South Africa in 2010. It’s vital that Cape Town and the Western Cape becomes a top-of-mind destination for them, in other words, that they know where we are and what we offer. We want to make sure that Brazilians visit our destination while they are in South Africa, and that they know about the wealth and variety of tourism experiences that are on offer for them between matches,” says Calvyn Gilfellan, acting Chief Executive of Cape Town Routes Unlimited.
A significant outcome of the show is that a joint marketing agreement is currently being negotiated with a key Brazilian online travel operator. As part of the agreement the Brazilian travel operator will offer attractive, accessible and highly affordable travel packages to Cape Town and the Western Cape to the local market. It will also invest more money into marketing the destination in the Brazilian market, including embarking on a three month campaign focused on first-time visitors.
Currently South Africa’s popularity amongst Brazilians as an English speaking country contributes to increased awareness of the destination. Many attend exchange schools in South Africa in order to improve their English. In this respect, South Africa competes with other English speaking countries like the United Kingdom for the Brazilian market. According to SA Tourism, 23 529 Brazilian travellers visited the country in 2005, growing by 11.32% from the previous year.
“Our team in Sao Paulo was overwhelmed by the interest that already exists in Cape Town and the Western Cape. Travel operators not only sell the destination as part of the South African package, but many sell purely Western Cape packages. Brazilian students come here, fall in love with the place and tell their families and friends about it. They adore our friendly people, the scenery and the energy – they definitely regard Cape Town and the Western Cape as being hip, hot and happening. We’ll definitely participate in the leisure tourism show again next year, and expand our activities to Argentina and quite likely other South American countries. This is part of our drive to increase awareness of Cape Town and the Western Cape as a tourism destination prior to, during and after 2010,” concluded Gilfellan.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
