New global marketing campaign tackles Cape Town drought fall-out

Source: Tourism Update, 02/11/2018

Combating perceptions caused by the drought, Wesgro and partners
launch several campaigns.
Wesgro and its public and private sector partners have launched
several campaigns to reverse negative perceptions caused by the
drought and to return Cape Town and the Western Cape to tourists’ and
investors’ bucket lists, says CEO, Tim Harris.
Still to be officially launched, Harris said Wesgro and key
stakeholders at all levels of government and in the tourism industry
have been working on a new global marketing campaign tagged “Nowhere
does it better”, to aid the province’s recovery following the drought.
“This globally-focused campaign showcases the breadth and depth of
various activities within the Western Cape and the proximity these are
to one another,” he said.
According to Satsa, the R12m (€722 610) marketing campaign, funded
jointly by Wesgro, SA Tourism (SA Tourism) and the Tourism Business
Council of South Africa’s (TBCSA) Collaborative Fund, will be
available to the trade to communicate to clients that the Western Cape
is open for business. Satsa says the trade could use the campaign in
their own marketing; and provide support for familiarisation (fam) trips.
This follows the launch in September of the #ItsAllStillHere tourism
campaign, launched by Wesgro to target surf tourists and adventure
travellers, deemed more resilient and environmentally conscious than
average visitors, and to create a different narrative around water
resources. It consists of three short, shareable videos profiling the
Cape`s top surfing talent, natural beauty, and world-class surf
conditions. “The campaign acknowledges that although our region has
suffered its worst drought in history, we`ve got through the crisis
and our extraordinary destination is ‘all still here’, says Harris.
“In addition, a campaign was launched last month to showcase the many
opportunities for investment in the Cape,” he adds. “This marketing
campaign’s key objective is to instill confidence in the economy of
the Cape and South Africa internationally, by showcasing the many
opportunities for investment across a variety of sectors.”
Speaking at the occasion of Austrian Airlines’ return to Cape Town
this week, Lufthansa GM Southern Africa, André Schulz, called on
Wesgro to amplify the message that the drought in Cape Town had
passed. While Wesgro statistics showed that international traffic to
Cape Town had declined in April and May following negative publicity
regarding Day Zero, Lufthansa did not see a huge impact on its Cape
Town flights, said Schulz. He said the water shortage had received a
lot of attention in the German and international media earlier this
year, yet the fact that dams were now 75% full and that good rainfall
was received over the winter, was not making the same headlines. He
said it was important for Cape Town’s international image that the new
reality was publicised internationally to counteract the earlier
negative publicity.