Despite economic downturn Mossel Bay Tourism upbeat
29. Mar, 2009
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Mossel Bay went to meet the Europeans in Europe – and the Americans in Africa – in recent weeks, and Mossel Bay Tourism is upbeat about the immediate future despite the economic downturn. Mossel Bay was the only small town from South Africa at the American Society of Travel Agents’ International Destination Exhibition, held recently at Sun City.
More than 500 travel agents from all over the United States of America came to the Sun City Conference Centre to discover the country for themselves and to attend special interest seminars and a trade show.
Mossel Bay Tourism’s communications consultant, Martin Hatchuel, represented the town and said afterwards that the agents he met were particularly interested in niche markets – like weddings and special interest tours – and that 2010 loomed large for many of them.
“On the second night of the event we all went to a concert in the outdoor arena at the Lost City, but I didn’t see much of it because the woman I was sitting next to wanted to know everything about Mossel Bay as a football destination. She asked highly informed questions about base camps, fan zones and whether or not I felt the town would be chosen by one of the teams in 2010.
“She said she would most definitely be arranging tours to South Africa in the near future.”
While Mr. Hatchuel was at Sun City, Marcia Holm was flying to Europe to attend ITB Berlin – the tourism industry’s largest trade and consumer show.
Figures released by the organisers showed that ITB Berlin drew 110,000 trade visitors (42% of whom came from outside Europe – an increase of 4% over 2008), and that 180,000 people passed through the exhibition halls. The ITB Convention – a trade-only affair – drew 12,000 people this year, against 11,000 in 2008.
Dr. Christian Göke, Chief Operating Officer of Messe Berlin – which manages ITB – said that, “In times of rapid structural changes and highly competitive markets [industry professionals who attended ITB] focused on gaining a comprehensive overview and on new business approaches.
“Thus, unlike many other industries, the travel sector is actively responding to the challenges.
“Trade visitor attendance remained high – proof of ITB Berlin’s resilience even in economically difficult times,” he said.
Ms. Holm said that Mossel Bay was able to take full advantage of the show. “Our stand – the ‘The Travel Companion to South Africa’ – was in an excellent position in the main Africa Hall: right opposite the SA Tourism stand on a very busy passageway.
“Louis Harris of The Point Hotel joined Mossel Bay Tourism and products from Eastern Cape and Oudtshoorn on the stand and Arnold Neethling of Botlierskop exhibited on the Cape Country Routes stand.
“Gondwana, Mossel Bay’s newest game farm, was represented on the SA Tourism stand.
“In general I found the attitude of both the public and tour operators and travel agents very positive – in fact more positive than those at the Netherlands or Irish shows which I attended earlier this year.
“Older travelers remain the people with the most disposable income and they were keen to see what we had to offer. It certainly didn’t seem as though they were cutting back on their travel plans.
“From every point of view, ITB was a huge success – especially since Germany remains our core foreign market,” she said.
After ITB, Mr. Harris traveled to Gothenburg in Sweden, where he exhibited The Point Hotel – and, by extension, Mossel Bay as a whole – at the annual TUR travel show.
“The Swedes are generally wealthy and keen to travel,” he said, “so the show was definitely worthwhile both for us and for Mossel Bay.
“The town’s profile has been raised considerably in the past three years, and people are sitting up and taking notice.”
“After these three shows, I’m very positive about the immediate future for tourism in Mossel Bay,” said Ms. Holm.
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My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
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