With just 40 days to go until the FIFA World Cup kicks off on 11 June, Mossel Bay Tourism has bid farewell to its long-term campaign to attract foreign visitors to the town during the event – and will use this year’s South African Tourism Indaba as a springboard to the future.
The Indaba begins in Durban next week, and runs to the 11th of May.
“The World Cup is upon us, and any marketing we do now must concentrate on attracting business from visitors who are either here already, or who will be here, and will be travelling round the country during the tournament,” said Mossel Bay Tourism’s Marcia Holm.
“Like all other trade shows, Indaba has always been about attracting business in the future – as much as one, two, or even three years down the line – so it would be short sighted for us to go to Durban with the World Cup as a priority.
“We concentrated on our 2010 marketing in 2009 and 2008, and now we’re looking to 2011 and beyond,” she said.
Ms. Holm pointed out that Mossel Bay had taken the lead in developing a domestic tourism strategy for South Africans during the World Cup.
“The campaign, which is running currently, asks: ‘With the world coming to South Africa for the football this winter, where can South Africans go for their holidays in June and July?’ – and the answer, of course, is Mossel Bay,” she said.
“We believe that the litmus test of a tourism destination is whether or not the local market (what we call our domestic market) spends time there – and, once again, in Mossel Bay’s case, the answer is a resounding ‘Yes!’
“So this is what information officer Louma Jansen and I will be emphasising when we talk to operators at the Indaba this year.”
Mossel Bay’s biggest attractions, she said, included its beaches, its weather (with more than 300 days of warm sunshine every year, it’s a year-round beach-going destination), the number of commercial adventures and attractions on offer – and the fact that almost anyone can find beach-front accommodation, no matter what their budget may be.
“This is unique in South Africa, where most beach-front hotels, guest houses, lodges, and resorts seem to prefer catering for big spenders,” said Ms. Holm.
“The fact that we have both up-market, and inexpensive accommodation in such a beautiful setting, and that Mossel Bay is exactly half way between the provincial Capitals of Cape Town and Port Elizabeth – which are 400 km to the west and east of us – makes it a perfect stopping point on any itinerary, and this is another point that we will be emphasising at this year’s Indaba.”
Ms. Holm emphasised that Mossel Bay is easily accessible, and that its infrastructure – which boasts the most advanced medical care facilities outside of the Cape Metropole – is world class.
“The roads that connect us with other major centres are in excellent condition; the domestic airport at George is just 40 km from our CBD; the Mossel Bay Airfield’s tarred, 1,100 m runway can accommodate aircraft of up to 12,000 kg – which translates to about to about 24 passengers; and our harbour – the smallest commercial harbour in South Africa – often hosts cruise liners and smaller pleasure craft,” she said.
Mossel Bay has recently attracted intense attention from the scientific community because of the findings of the Mossel Bay Archaeology Project, which is studying the correlation between human behaviour and climate change, and which has demonstrated that modern human behaviour emerged in the area 164,000 years ago – and Ms. Holm said that the history of the town was particularly important for its marketing.
“Of course the last five hundred years or so of Mossel Bay’s history – from the time when Bartolomeu Dias and his crews rounded the Cape to landed here – is very important to everyone, and our experience has shown that the Dias Museum Complex, with its Post Office Tree and its replica of Dias’ ship, remains one of our biggest attractions.
“Almost everybody who comes to Mossel Bay still wants to send cards or letters from the Post Office Tree, and to have them stamped with the Post Office’s special commemorative frank.
“But the last 500 years are only part of the story – and anyone who cares to walk along the rugged coast to the west of the town will discover that this area reveals its stories slowly through things like strandloper middens in the sand dunes, and in places like the Cape St. Blaize Cave,” said Ms. Holm.
“This sense of history – combined with our attractions, our infrastructure, and that famous ‘No hurry, No worries’ feeling that comes over people when they spend even the smallest amount of time relaxing here – sets Mossel Bay apart.
“And this is what we’ll be using to sell Mossel Bay as a destination at this year’s Tourism Indaba,” she said.
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