Cape Town Car Hire

CAPE TOWN — The challenge for Western Cape’s tourism industry was not how many visitors would attend the 2010 Soccer World Cup event, but what could be done to sustain tourism growth after 2010, the new CEO of regional tourism body Cape Town Routes Unlimited said yesterday.

Sheryl Ozinsky, head of Cape Town Tourism before it amalgamated into a body representing the entire Western Cape, said the key was to think beyond 2010.

Ozinsky said the soccer extravaganza was expected to bring about 240000 visitors to Western Cape.

While 2010 was a catalyst for investment in tourism infrastructure such as roads, transport interchanges, a massively upgraded international airport, and hotels, much of this would be wasted if it was only for a once-off event, said Ozinsky.

“The challenge is not just how many people we can get here for the World Cup, but how best we can leverage off it to sustain tourism growth after 2010,” Ozinsky said.

Speaking at a function in Crossroads for the visiting Ajax Amsterdam team and the Johan Cruyff Foundation, Ozinsky said the province had a “huge opportunity” to market the destination in new, growing markets.

These included South America, especially Argentina and Brazil, Asia — Japan and Korea— and some European countries — Italy and France — where Western Cape traditionally had little exposure.

Sheryl said a public relations campaign in these markets, coupled with activating the travel trade in those countries to sell the Cape as a destination, “is part of the work that needs to begin now”.

If Cape Town succeeded in its bid to host the international broadcast centre for the World Cup, all the journalists and television crews would be hosted in Cape Town ahead of and during the tournament.

“With a worldwide audience of almost 4-billion people, this exposure is priceless, particularly if we can capitalise on it by packaging offers to visit Western Cape before and after 2010,” said Ozinsky.

Cape Town was a strong contender with its existing international appeal, ample hotel accommodation and facilities as well as a plan to double the existing convention space to accommodate the international broadcast centre.

“For SA, the World Cup is a once-off event, and we must be careful not to get so fixated on hosting the actual tournament that we don’t think beyond it,” she said.

“We need to establish how we’re going to maximise the international media coverage, encourage people to come and visit us and then transform these visitors into international destination ambassadors.”

Ozinsky said this had to happen now, “not once the last goal is scored”.

Moeketsi Mosola, CEO of South African Tourism, said the Dutch market was a significant and highly lucrative market for SA. Last year, tourism arrivals from the Netherlands increased by a “healthy” 15,8% from January to July, making it the third-largest market in Europe for SA as a destination .