Named after South Africa’s most famous global icon, the Nelson Mandela Bay area includes the region linking Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Despatch and Colchester; the towns, cities and outlying rural areas in this part of the scenic Eastern Cape Province, well known as the gateway to the Garden Route.
Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism is evolving the historical and emotional importance of the region through an innovative new destination marketing strategy with a renewed focus on digital marketing.
The city’s unique story of “freedom” will be showcased and shared globally through a number of new marketing initiatives such as the building of a new digital platform to engage would-be visitors to the area through storytelling and carefully packaged, enjoyable information.
A new blog, found at blog.nmbt.co.za was launched at Indaba on Saturday 10 May 2014 (at noon on stand DEC1E99), when, MMC, Cllr Babalwa Lobishe, activated the blog to go live.
“The development and launch of Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism’s new Blog and our new three year strategy, which is aligned with the national tourism sector strategy and informed by international best practice and the latest trends, have set the path for a new, innovative approach to destination marketing for Nelson Mandela Bay,” said Cllr Babalwa Lobishe.
The blog will feature experiences, things to try, photo galleries, insider info, tips and hints to unlock the region known for its warm hospitality, friendliness and staggeringly beautiful natural environment. The blog will also feature news on events and a competition “Freedom Captured” whereby visitors can share their own unique “Freedom Stories”.
These could be personal, cultural, environmental or social but submissions must embody the beauty and integrity of ‘freedom’ in the Nelson Mandela Bay area and include one or two images to support the stories. Submissions can be made via the blog, with one overall prize winner securing a 5 day holiday for two to the area.
The move to digital is part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism’s commitment to innovation in destination marketing ahead of the announcement of their three year strategy in July 2014. Says Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism’s CEO, Mandlakazi Skefile; “We are building a new digital gateway into this exciting region; a platform for locals, visitors and online influencers like bloggers, to share our stories with the world. Word of mouth through social media is now the most powerful tool for any destination marketer today. Through this new platform we hope to celebrate the regions’ spirit of freedom with our visitors.”
Editor: Surely a commitment to the Nelson Mandela Bay Area starts with using LOCAL PR and Web Design professionals? So why then have NMBT elected to use talent from outside of the area. To me that sends a message that we locals are not good enough and, by extension then, our tourism products are not good enough!
Alan Straton
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An emailed comment: Morning Alan. I could not agree more with you re using home grown
talent. This is nothing new however. Years ago the Durban municipality saw fit to to appoint a Cape Town
architect to design the Durban beachfront. The mind fairly boggles what?
The blog looks really awesome visually. The content looks like everything was paid content and professional models used in the photos. Let’s check back in 6 months to see if they still updating at least once per week. If you cannot publish new content once a week, you should never bother starting a blog.
My 10 cents worth – one of the NMBT’s now ex-employees runs a very successful blog premised around an image a day. NMBT could have bought that blog and self hosted with their new theme …………..