It's nearly two years since the new Cape Town Tourism (CTT) was established, through the amalgamation of the former CTT, Cape Metropolitan Tourism and the five tourism organisations serving other parts of the new Cape Town Unicity. This interview is way overdue and it's CapeInfo's first real contact with CTT since they were established. We speak to Mariëtte du Toit, CTT's general manager.
Throughout the whole Joint Marketing Initiative (JMI) process that led to both CTT and Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU), politicians and local government officials promised far greater budgets alongside greater administrative efficiencies.
Many are confused by the roles of the two bodies. CTT is essentially a visitor services organisation with private sector membership that elects a board of directors. CTRU is a statutory organisation where Province and the City appoint the board, and which is mandated with the marketing of "Cape Town & the Western Cape". The two bodies are funded by the City Council and Province to the sum of R60 million pa.
Going through the last CTT annual report (year ended June 2005), we were puzzled by an apparent drop of ± 10% in membership income (although membership fees increased) and a ±10% increase in admininistration costs. CTT's grant from the City Council was ±R5 million in 2004/5 and rises to some R10 million in the new financial year. However, many of the costs of visitor services and staff were paid directly by the City until June 2005, which means in essence that the actual costs of visitor services could only be accurately accounted for as of 2005. CTT self-generates at least 40% of its annual budget, which was R3.4 million for 04/05. The self-generated income projection for 05/06 is R4,7 million based on year-to-date financials.
Du Toit attributes the drop to the removal of duplicated memberships – businesses in other parts of Cape Town that had to pay membership fees to various tourism offices in order to have their brochures stocked in the city, for example, and the fact the multiple businesses with single ownership now only require a single membership. "Paid-up membership now stands at 1 700 and we're sure that we will reach 2 200 by the end of this financial year. New members are joining at a rate of 50–60 a month," she says.
We're not wholly convinced by this reply but we'll wait until the new figures for 2006 are released after their year ends in June. One should remember that the old CTT grew membership from 600 to 1 500 between 1998 and 2004. With a grant from the Council of just over R1 million a year, they were totally membership-focused.
Du Toit acknowledges that although joint marketing and unification were crucial, the JMI process was fraught and created problems, and combining seven very different organisations hasn't been easy either. "The local tourism organisations were victims were the victims of the process," she says, "but the antagonisms seem to be over now and people are looking at CTT in a new light. Very few businesses leave CTT because they are unhappy with our service. Old members that left with the changeover are coming back."
Year ended June 30, 2005
2005
2004
Revenue
9,510,639
9,476,551
Total grants *
6,027,639
4,671,924
Commissions
1,414,667
1,362,455
Publications
126,810
1,026,835
Interest
110,804
197,892
Rent
380,093
491,705
Sales
155,977
190,459
Members subs
1,294,309
1,535,281
Expenses
9,291,656
9,276,162
Marketing
792,142
1,525,840
Administration
8,499,514
7,750,322
* 2005 includes an establishment grant of R968,649
*
Are there greater efficiencies? Most of CTT's budget goes on visitor centres and staffing, and a number of poor locations had to be replaced and, with transformation of the tourism industry in mind, new centres opened.
With 1.7 million visitors passing through their doors each year, one area where CTT has seen increased revenues is in commissions earned, due also to improved booking systems.
The old "Cape of Great Events" was Cape Metropolitan Tourism's very successful events arm and that has been absorbed into CTRU. Du Toit says they are still involved in strategic planning and evaluation of community and local events and marketing initiatives. It is a most important way for local communities to benefit from tourism. Simon's Town's Penguin Festival and Muizenberg's Kite Festival occur on the same weekend and whilst we cannot change the dates, we can ensure a closer synergy between these two events to ensure that visitors attend both and that both communities benefit from these events,” she says.
Du Toit speaks at length about new systems and the checklists for the visitor services offices. Admittedly, the basics are now in place for the organisation to flourish, but what CTT needs is a bit of the boldness and vision that characterised the old CTT. The tourism structures created by the JMI process are probably the greatest stumbling block. The City of Cape Town's primary relationship is with CTRU. CTT is strategically linked with CTRU through a Service Level Agreement and City funding is tracked to CTT via CTRU, but the City of Cape Town is not directly linked to CTT.
Du Toit makes the point that the most important reason that members join, apart from the accreditation by an official body, is for promotional or marketing value and business support. Sadly, however, CTT has no marketing mandate which is CTRU's turf. CTRU's response to our question about this was rather fuzzy... "We don't market Cape Town per se, but we do market the 'Cape Town & Western Cape brand'...". So Cape Town has no dedicated brand champion in the marketing department! Now if the Garden Route, Overstrand and all the other regions address their own intra-regional marketing, it seems that Cape Town ratepayers and CTT members are getting the short end of the straw. But there's nothing the CTT team can do about that until political bosses review the structures they have established.
What puzzles CapeInfo – and we're still trying to get an appointment with the City Council's mayoral committee member responsible for tourism – is how the City's tourism staff complement has grown so dramatically over the past few years. This wasn't the deal promised! Most of those staff (and their budgets) should reside in CTRU or CTT.
CapeInfo believes that Cape Town's recent successes have little to do with its tourism organisations, but rather the inherent strength of the destination and the businesses that operate here.
One of the greatest fears when the structures were changed was that it would lead to the dilution of the Cape Town brand, and that that marketing of Cape Town would suffer. While both Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng have embraced the role of their principle cities as the drivers of tourism, the Cape's attempt at regional inclusivity has muddled the brand. (Every time CTRU introduces themselves, it's as Cape Town Routes Unilimited, Destination Marketing Organisation for Cape Town and the Western Cape. What a mouthful!)
Should Cape Town's marketing be entrusted to CTRU which is a statutory bureacracy? We don't think so. It's time for a change and time for CTT to fly!
