Published on : Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Cape Town Tourism WTM. has returned from the World Travel Market (WTM) after a busy round of meetings with trade representatives, media and partners in the global tourism industry.
Present as part of a delegation from WESGRO and Cape Town Design, the implementing company of World Design Capital 2014, Cape Town’s year-long World Design Capital 2014 calendar of events was launched at WTM.
CEO of Cape Town Tourism, Enver Duminy, reported that there was a significant appetite for World Design Capital 2014 information – particularly about the events and design-specific itineraries, whilst many operators selling township tours were keen to see the reflection of South Africa’s twentieth year of democracy in new tours and experiences.
Travel operators in the UK were also packaging around cricket and rugby events and there was sustained interest in Cape Town as a food destination.
Questions were fielded about safety; whether the perception of Cape Town as a dangerous place is aligned to the reality, which modes of public transport were safest and what measures are in place to prevent incidents. Cape Town also continues to be plagued by negative perceptions about price, with operators looking for ways to package lifestyle experiences with added value.
The trade and media continue to seek information on all of these aspects, as well as what is on offer in the luxury category.
Event organisers and agents showed keen interest in appointing reliable tourism destination management companies to assist with events and tours, which suggests potential growth for the business tourism sector.
There were numerous requests for familiarisation trips and trade education is a key area for developing relationships and further business for tourism in Cape Town.
Aside from the long-standing interest and support from Cape Town’s key source market, the United Kingdom, there was a sharp increase in appetite from Indian and Nigerian operators selling destination Cape Town. Similarly, more enquiries and engagement came from Brazil, Switzerland and Sweden.
Says Cape Town Tourism CEO, Enver Duminy; “Cape Town is definitely still on the bucket list for travellers but we have to work on increasing access through well-packaged, value-for-money offers and we have to respond to their hunger for information with exciting content about Cape Town. This is something that all our tourism partners can support through their own marketing and content platforms. Cape Town Tourism has a useful marketing toolkit to assist members in presenting an interesting, diverse Cape Town.”
Please continue for a summary of global trends in travel…
GLOBAL TRENDS DRIVING TRAVEL
Euromonitor International released their annual World Travel Market Global Trends Report 2013 at London’s World Travel Market (WTM) trade show last week. Their findings include:
• Economic growth in Africa is driving international business tourism, whilst rising incomes and urbanisation mean that domestic travel is growing on the continent
• Driven by the demand for multi-generational holidays (parents, grandparents and children travelling together), family-friendly safaris are very popular
• Most popular are safaris in malaria-free sub-Saharan Africa
• Disney films such as Madagascar and The Lion King have captured the imagination of children across the world and play an important role in promoting African safari holidays for families
• The report identifies a new market demographic emerging in America; PANKS – ‘Professional Aunt, No Kids’, a woman over 18 who has no children but travels to remain close to the children of close friends and relatives, with some taking these children on holidays
• Increasing Air Passenger Duty (APD) is continuing to have an adverse effect on inbound and outbound holiday markets. Nearly half (41%) of holidaymakers polled by WTM will change their holiday plans because of the controversial tax’s next increase on April 1, 2014
• No-frills airlines could introduce ‘low-cost business class’ sections being pioneered by Middle Eastern budget carriers such as Jazeera Airways and Flydubai
• Middle Eastern markets continue to pursue luxury experiences and destinations
• UK holidaymakers “have been left cold by 2013′s summer heat wave”; with almost two-thirds saying it won’t make them more likely to ‘staycation’ in the UK next year
• Asia is tipped to become a global travel and tourism leader, with almost one-third of the countries listed for tourism potential being Asian nations
• China remains the most important emerging economy for the global travel and tourism industry – the Chinese are said to be the most important BRICS market in terms of outbound and inbound travel, followed by Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa
• TripAdvisor and similar peer review websites continue to have the biggest impact on how UK holidaymakers plan their holidays. The report found that TripAdvisor was a key resource for holiday information for 27% of the UK public. Guide books keep a place in the hearts and minds of UK travelers (14% chose guidebooks), whilst blogs (3%) appear to be struggling to gain widespread adoption. Other factors in the decision-making process of travelers include personal recommendations, tourist board websites, travel magazines and newspaper travel sections. Much further down the list of influences were travel agents
• The Travel Tech Show at WTM revealed that social media and mobile trends continue apace for most destinations. The report found that mobile technology was increasingly being used to support customer experience before, during and after travel
• In India, tech savvy travel companies are using social media to target India’s urban youth travelers
• China is a growing market for cruise tourism
• A further highlight of the Travel Tech Show was that Germany is set to become Europe’s biggest online travel market within the next five years
Source:- Cape Town Tourism
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