Quite a massive statement from the NMBBC as they gathered diverse players in the tourism market together for ‘talks about talks’ last week on Wednesday. As a sideline observer of the tourism industry for many years my abiding observation has always been that the local tourism industry is fragmented and totally unable to rally around the simple fact that Port Elizabeth needs to be unselfishly marketed by all role players chanting a specific mantra with one voice.
It is an inescapable fact that Cape Town’s Table Mountain is top of the mind of most tourists and, like water cascading down the mountain side, any marketing of Cape Town and the Mountain has direct benefits for the tourism industry as a whole. Just when will our tourism operators learn that by unselfishly making their industry and this region strong they will make themselves strong?
In 1652 it was decided that the definitive advertising feature of Cape Town would be Table Mountain. Port Elizabeth has YET to decide what our defining feature is to be. Of course we have a slogan subtly linked to Nelson Mandela Bay and wide open spaces in; “Discover Freedom” but, somehow I don’t think that that is enough to slam the attraction of Table Mountain onto the mat in a submission hold.
For years we have been pussy footing around being the “Watersport Capital” – of South Africa at least, preferably the world – and done sweet fanny adams about that, save for some die hard promotion by people like Zports, a swimming component to Iron Man, two international sailing regattas and not much else. We need someone of strength who has the vision and (sadly) political connections to bring huge international watersport events to Port Elizabeth like the Volvo Ocean Race which brings billions of rands to a host city in exposure and spending power. We had the chance at hosting the Volvo Ocean Race here in Port Elizabeth but failed due to Transnet’s supposed reluctance to accommodate the race. Volvo’s headquarters is in Gothenborg, Sweden – a city with which Nelson Mandela Bay is twinned.
Let’s face it, the friendliness of our citizens is legend the world over but is has not been enough to bring people to our fair city – we need massive events or installations like the proposed Freedom Statue to attract tourists. It still grates me the wrong way when I hear about the Athol Fugard Theatre in Cape Town – for goodness sake man, Fugard is a son of Port Elizabeth, his plays are centred in our region and we couldn’t get off of our lazy butts to even, at the very least, name the St. Georges Park Tearoom after him. Skande, mense – ‘n donderse skande!
Talking at the NMBBC ‘Future of Tourism’ event were; Mathew Lester (Rhodes Professor of Economics), Chuma Myoli (MBDA), Peter Myles (TIA), Sybert Liebenberg (East Cape Parks and Tourism) and Mandlakazi Skefile (NMBT).
Mathew Lester, who defines himself as a professional wanderer and says that he greenest holiday you can have is a ‘Scott of the Attic’ stay at home holiday defined today’s South African economy as: Quite a robust and strong one pointing out that South Africa presently has the healthiest deficit in the world, the current account has recovered, interest rates are low, commodity prices and all the economic indicators are high. These conditions are more favourable than those before the credit crunch but, strangely, consumer confidence is flat, That coupled with tighter lending conditions has resulted in people ‘downgrading’ their holiday plans as they are frightened to spend and go into debt.
Lester then defined just how big the domestic tourism market is by asking; “How many of South Africa’s 50 million people can actually afford to go on holiday?”
Of the 50 million South Africans – 10 million have not looked for work in the last 31 days, 12 million are officially employed, 9 million of the employed fall UNDER the tax threshold, 3.3 million taxpayers earn from R50 000 to R500 000 per annum (the middle class), 150 000 taxpayers earn over R500 000 per annum, there are 3000 super rich individuals in South Africa and a minuscule percentage of them pay any tax at all.
So, the aunty with a Guest House who styles herself as upmarket and charges prices to match, is competing with thousands of other guest houses across the country in attempting to get one or more of those 150 000 top end domestic tourists to stay a few nights in her facility. DAUNTING indeed.
Lester suggested a niche for those tourism operators and accommodation providers looking for a niche by asking who is concentrating on the ‘Yobo Tourists’ – those South Africans who are satisfied with getting away from home and enjoying a Beer, Braai and Bed? At the same time as finding your niche you need to identify your competition and that is NOT the Guest House or Hotel across the road or across the town but could be Mauritius – if your accommodation facility is more expensive for a potential tourist than going to Mauritius for a week then you have serious problems. You can get a week in Mauritius, including flights, accommodation, food and alcohol for an average of R8 000.00 per person. If your Dinner, Bed and Breakfast rate is more than R600.00 per person then Mauritius is probably gonna win.
Of course there are other considerations such as the almost criminal amount charged by the Airports Company of South Africa. Overseas airlines such as Ryanair (with ten pound specials) will not be able to offer such prices within our current regulatory framework.
To attract incoming overseas tourists we will need a weak currency and favourable oil prices. Lester then pointed out that nearly 6 billion people want to visit Africa and challenging you and I to check the veracity of his figures by googling the bucket lists of people. Lester assured us that most people want to see an African Sunset or have an Out of Africa holiday. Makes Sense. So, what are we doing to package such an experience for the Bucket Listers? Nothing I am sure. As Lester says; “Enable this experience and point out that it is an affordable dream!” An important part of getting tourists to our city also revolves around ridding ourselves of the sentiment that says; “Get them here and mine the hell out of their pockets”.
Lester finished off with a couple of homilies that are close to the heart of MyPE:
- Early to bed, early to rise, save like hell and ADVERTISE
- Go and fetch your customers
- Social media is essential and must be run properly
Alan Straton
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