Cape Town is a city with a plan.
The Mother City’s new ‘Choose Cape Town’ campaign forms part of the efforts to market Cape Town as a year-round destination, rather than just focusing on peak periods.
The City of Cape Town launched its new immersive marketing campaign at Cape Town International Airport on Friday (September 1). The campaign materials adorn the airport underpass, as well as parking areas, with the slogan ‘Choose Cape Town’.
It will also feature in SAA’s on-board magazine and form part of a digital campaign targeting São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to coincide with the launch of SAA’s new twice-weekly direct route between São Paulo and Cape Town launching next month.
James Vos, Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, said the campaign encapsulated all that the city had to offer. “But it’s also speaking to people who aren’t only looking for a visitor experience, but those seeking out an investment or business opportunity, or those simply seeking a new place to call home.”
Vos said destination marketing and campaigns like this one, were part of the city’s five-pillar plan to increase travel and trade in the city, to encourage tourism throughout the year, and create jobs in the industry.
High impact of digital campaigns
To illustrate the impact of destination marketing efforts, Vos said a digital campaign run in the US market in March and April had reached more than 8,2 million people – over 500% above the campaign target. The same campaign, run in Europe late last year, had exceeded its viewing target by three million views.
“This is one of the measures we use to push demand from key source markets that leads to increased bookings. Between January and April 2023, we saw inbound travel from these markets surpass figures seen for the same period in 2019. UK air passengers recovered to 104% of the January to April 2019 numbers, Germany hit 106%, the Netherlands recovered to 116%, and the US by an incredible 155%.”
The remaining four pillars in the city’s plan are aviation, cruise travel, events and conferences and product development.
New statistics released by Wesgro indicated that the Western Cape aviation sector injected R41 billion into the provincial economy in 2022, supporting over 9 500 jobs.
Mark Maclean, Acsa Regional GM for Cape Town International Airport, said the airport was anticipating over 700 000 incoming passengers during the November to March peak season – approximately 9 000 international visitors and 35 000 domestic travellers per day.
He said events and conferences in April and May were starting to “push peak season into April and May and flatten the curve, so we’re seeing visitors year round and not just for the peak season”.
‘Incredible returns’
Vos said the Cruise Cape Town initiative at Wesgro was showing “incredible returns” with 70 cruise ships with over 145 000 passengers and 42 000 crew, docked in Cape Town over the past cruise season. A further 59 ship visits are already on the books for the 2023/24 season.
Events and conferences were also showing significant returns, with the Cape Town International Convention Centre hosting 427 events between July 2022 and June 2023, with almost 275 000 attendees.
“Because research shows that delegates spend between R3 200 and R6 400 per day during their stays, these gatherings really do generate billions of rands for Cape Town and thousands of jobs,” he said.
On the product development front, he said the city, together with Cape Town Tourism, offered a number of support services so that SMMEs and operators could create standout products and services for visitors. These include a Business Helpdesk, eKasi Industry Development Sessions and a Neighbourhood Experience Development training manual.
