We are in agreement that large local events are held not only to raise the profile of our city but also to attract ‘foreign’ money into our economy. This injection of ‘foreign’ money helps to grow our local economy by attracting money from outside of our municipal boundaries into Port Elizabeth. Just stirring the dwindling available money around in the Port Elizabeth pot doesn’t really achieve anything.
In a recent snap survey sent to 263 accommodation providers, MyPE asked these questions:
- How many bed nights have you sold in the past directly attributable to the Splash Festival?
- If the Splash Festival was advertised sooner would your bookings have increased?
- What types of city wide events result in the most bed nights sold?
- How can the city improve it’s image?
- What type of marketing is required to raise our city’s profile?
- What is the main reason why people visit our city?
- Which other destination is Port Elizabeth’s main rival? (e.g. when people say; “We had to choose between Port Elizabeth and ……… for our holiday/break).
The results from 31 replies are as follows:
How many bed nights have you sold in the past (2011) directly attributable to the Splash Festival?
- 163
If we are generous and times that by 6 (to represent the number of establishments that didn’t reply then 978 bed nights were sold last year as a DIRECT result of the Splash Festival – at 3 bed nights per person and an estimated daily spend of R2 000.00 pp that represents R652 000.00 of ‘foreign’ money into Port Elizabeth.
If the Splash Festival was advertised sooner would your bookings have increased?
- Yes: 4
- No: 11
- Maybe: 8
- Unanswered: 8
What types of city wide events result in the most bed nights sold?
- Sports: 19 – most cited international events – rugby, athletics and the Ironman as examples
- Music Concerts: 6 – again international names accounting for the biggest increases in bookings
- Shows: 3 – most saying that dog and horse shows are best for them
- NMMU: 1 – graduation and the start of the student year
- Weddings: 1
How can the city improve it’s image?
- Waterfront development, Dolphins, Apple Express, holiday/fun attractions.
- Attract Sports groups – Squash, Hockey, Chess, Swimming, fishing, bowls etc.
- By advertising.
- NMBay Tourism does not do enough to promote our city. Their offices are not well stocked with brochures (always run out) and sometimes the staff are not very helpful.
- Less crime, better service from store/shop attendants etc.
- Clean up the city (of general rubbish lying around AND cut the grass on side walks & grassy open area) and reduce crime
- Authorities must catch a wakeup call and; stop undermining small businesses, stop increasing the rates of the guesthouses, start regulating guesthouses that are operating under the radar and giving the industry a bad reputation.
- Get the beachfront back up and running.
- Market tourist attractions like whale watching, kiddie-friendly places, magnificent blue flag beaches, restaurants like Stanley Street, proximity to Addo, Jeffreys, etc.
- Open the best beach – Sardinia Bay.
- More effort must be put into marketing to both local and international visitors, and less money spent on useless music festivals that bring no money to local businesses.
- Get Bayworld up and running again, get the Apple Express running again. I had English guests here last year. Came all the way to PE to go to the Military museum in Uitenhage. It was closed with a sign saying sorry closed today but the guests told me there were knee high weeds around the entrance and it looked as if it had been closed for a long time. That’s a disgrace! We should be updating our tourist attraction websites to tell guests the place is no longer operational. They were very annoyed and bitterly disappointed.
- By printing more positive reports in the media.
- We have lost all the attractions in the city: Apple Express, The Oceanarium, The ice rink. People visit Addo/Kragga Kamma/Shamwari for a day or 2 and then head for Knysna on their way to Cape Town. There is not enough in PE to keep visitors here for longer than 3 days.
- Regrettably we can only improve image marginally as we don’t have a “must see” attraction.
- Re-claim “The Friendly City” as branding and STOP pretending that Port Elizabeth is “Nelson Mandela Bay”. At the moment, the city has no identity that anyone can visualise and not having a clear destination name (it’s on every international map as PE and the Bay is called Algoa Bay) is ridiculous! It may be politically expedient and correct, but it’s bad for marketing.
- Get the aquarium/dolpinarium and snake park etc. up and running. This was a constant tourism puller for people from the region.
- Currently there is very little to attract people, PE has NO USP.
- More events, more marketing along with pride in our city.
- Give away our Municipality! City to be accountable for the budget! Metro Police and Lifeguards needed, then the beaches and city gardens to be maintained and kept clean. Introduce a regular and reliable transport system and only then can aggressive marketing begin!
- I think it’s on the up – we need to keep bringing good events here.
- By having well organised events, what about a big Festival similar to the KKNK or harbour festival?
- Develop Waterfront, step-up security.
- I think we should promote our city’s historical roots more as PE is seen as a boring destination. The history would add some interest to tourists.
The above are all the comments from all accommodation owners. The recurring thread seems to revolve around security, cleanliness, family friendly attractions and the hosting of large events that occur over more than two days with an international element.
What type of marketing is required to raise our city’s profile?
- Promote beachfront.
- Newspaper and radio adverts in other regions.
- International as well as South African.
(I believe that NMBT is doing as good a job as they can, considering the budget they are given by our darling Municipality). We need international flights landing here – a few a week. We also need to leverage more off of Nelson Mandela’s name – he should be the reason why people visit. We need more marketing of cultural tours and experiences as overseas folks love that. - Get in cruise liners.
- You cannot market something that you do not have! First get something to sell, then sell it. The harbour is underutilised, is there scope there? What about selling PE as the start to the Garden Route? Have a functional tourism office located on the beachfront providing information to visitors about the region. For marketing to be successful, one needs a clearly identifiable logo/image and constant repetition. Our beaches are sell-able.
- Professional Events Marketers must FIRST identify the most lucrative potential target markets and focus on their needs.
- Appoint people with knowledge of marketing so they can do a proper job of it – look at the success of Knysna.
- Access to wilderness very near by. Beautiful unspoilt conservancies etc. yet all the benefits of the cities entertainment when the weather is not great. Attractive shopping centre – Walmer park – good restaurants, fantastic wedding and function venues in the countryside, yet close to airport and other city conveniences. Stunning harbour.
- Follow Knysna Tourism’s example.
- Find the main reason why people visit our city and fill that need.
- Worldwide marketing.
- Laws need to be enforced.
- Internet, Media and the radio.
- Publish in the papers what the MBDA is doing to upgrade Central.
- TV.
- Better advertising in all types of media to reach all target groups.
What is the main reason why people visit our city?
- Sport: 11
- Game Reserves: 8
- Business: 7
- Beach: 5
- Family: 4
- Weddings: 1
- Medical: 1
Some respondents noted more than one reason whilst others didn’t reply. I seem to discern a pattern here – large sporting events are one of our main attractions – now if we could combine those with game viewing and some business conferencing on the beachfront we could have the beginnings of a winner!
Which other destination is Port Elizabeth’s main rival?
- Cape Town: 6
- Jeffreys Bay: 3
- Knysna: 3
- Garden Route: 3
- East London: 2
- Plettenberg Bay: 2
- Durban: 1
- George: 1
- NO RIVAL: 1
One patriot indicated that we have NO RIVALS – well done.
The following Accommodation Establishments indicated that they were willing to be identified as having taken part in this survey:
- Willow Cottage
- Fernandos Guest House
- Corner House Accommodation
- Rooftops Self-Catering Apartments
- Sea Otters Lodge
- Lalapanzi Lodge
- 50 College Drive
- HalfTime Bed & Breakfast
- The Palace
- Guest House on Irvine
- The Old Cash Store
- Shadylane Guest House
- Coral Tree Guest House
- Mongoose Manor
- 17 on 5th Avenue
- Dempseys Guest House
- Humerail Bed & Breakfast
- Northcliff Guest House
- Port Elizabeth Guest House Accommodation
You would NOT GO AMISS to book your next accommodation in Port Elizabeth at one of the above – click on your choice above to BOOK direct and SAVE.
As a firm believer in ‘good from bad’ I sincerely hope that someone with power and vision will take note and ACTION the results of us few crying in the wilderness as we strive to make Port Elizabeth a shining example of a ‘better life for all’.
See all the articles in this series by clicking here #splashsurvey.
Alan Straton
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An emailed comment says; “We really do have to fight for our city and to maintain the standards it is a beautiful place to live “
One more emailed comment; “Our powers that be seem to be trying to strangle the goose that can lay golden eggs…”
If the tourism sector wants to survive in Port Elizabeth, it is going to have to stop moaning and organise itself independently of the municipality and its structures. Municipal officials, who earn monthly salaries, cannot understand what it is like to have to earn and work for every rand that comes into your business. However, there are officials who are willing to listen and to support the industry. What they need is a strong and united sector body to talk to.