Tur 2011 opens doors for NMBT
07 April 2011
The trip opened the organisation’s mind to new possibilities and doors for collaboration. Tur 2011 took place from March 24 to 27 and is one of the biggest events of its type. After the fair, the NMBT delegation stayed on to meet with city and university officials to see how they could leverage existing relationships.
“The fact that we have a twin city agreement gave us huge leverage because we somehow became the centre of attraction at the South African stand,” said Mandlakazi Skefile, NMBT chief executive. “The South Africa ambassador to Sweden, Zeph Makgetla, made special mention of the relationship at Tur’s big event on the first night. This gave us the opportunity to interact specifically with inbound tour operators.”
NMBT’s stand was the only destination exhibitor on display at Tur. The others featured tourism products or tour operators. “Some tour operators there purely sell South Africa as a destination, so it was important for us to scrutinize their itineraries. Most of them don’t consider Nelson Mandela Bay as a destination. Rather they see us as a stopover or gateway to Durban (after travelling the Garden Route) or for safari experiences. We set out to change this.”
After scrutinizing the tour operator itineraries, Skefile and Titus Chuene, NMBT marketing manager, developed a new itinerary which would benefit the city with three bed nights per visitor.
“They were very receptive to the itinerary because it showcased a product offering they were not aware of. So from now on we are going to be launching tour operator educationals, especially for those who have offices in Cape Town.”
According to statistics released at Tur by South African Tourism, the Swedish tourism market is the chief developing market for South Africa. Last year saw 43 164 Swedish tourists visiting the country, and SAT wants this to grow to a peak of 50 000 this year. Once that target is met, SAT will establish a fully-fledged office in Sweden. Currently they operate out of the South African embassy.
The other major impact of the destination stand came in the form of the opportunity to market Nelson Mandela Bay. “Often people are very confused when they hear of Nelson Mandela Bay. Sure, they have heard the name Nelson Mandela, and they have heard of or even been to Port Elizabeth, but do not equate their existing knowledge with the new name. We worked hard to teach people about the Nelson Mandela Bay brand and its evolution,” said Skefile.
Strengthening the Gothenburg connection
Nelson Mandela Bay already has a 13-year relationship with its Swedish sister city, Gothenburg. The cooperation with Port Elizabeth began in 1998 and is a partnership fostering development of common fields of interest such as solid waste management, public libraries, sport and tourism.
NMBT used their time in the city to meet with the Gothenburg university, a tourism company, GBC, and the stadium operator to learn from their strategies. The delegation was wowed by the unique approaches employed for international collaboration and growing the tourism industry in Gothenburg.
Professors Tommay Andersson, Centre of Tourism, School of Business, Economics and Law, and Lars Gunnarsson, Faculty of Education at the University of Gothenburg, revealed tentative links aimed at reinforcing the relationship between their university and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU).
Gunnarsson was recently in Nelson Mandela Bay launching a collaboration called the Global University with NMMU. “This is a three-year collaboration with our university where they will be exchanging students and teachers between the two institutions,” said Skefile.
Andersson – who is an expert in economic impact assessments of events – also highlighted the need for pioneering research, particularly in the sustainability realm.
“Currently there are eight projects running with Nelson Mandela Bay, but none of them are directly tourism related, so we are going to become the ninth project and are looking into an exchange programme for masters and doctoral students to learn from the incredible research expertise at Gothenburg. We are also looking into promoting sustainability impact assessments for our events industry with Prof Andersson’s assistance.”
Keeping Gothenburg company
A meeting with Dr Ossian Stiernstrand, director of destination development of Gothenburg company (GBC) was “jaw dropping” for the NMBT delegation after he spoke of a model for garnering private sector investment in a city tourism body. “He emphasized that for NMBT to win the support of private sector, we need to provide them with confidence. We need to earn their trust after which they will invest into our organization,” said Chuene.
Chuene explained the business model behind the GBC: “The GBC is a 50-50 partnership between the city and private sector. When the company was established in 1991 occupancy rate had just declined by 35%. Currently the city contributes 30% of their budget while private sector contributes 40%. The balance of 30% comes through their commercial activities.”
The model was well received by NMBT and the tourism body has invited Dr Stiernstrand to talk on how Goteborg got its relationship with private sector right at the next membership meeting on April 18.
Keeping the stadium alive
Chuene and Skefile also met with the Gothenburg stadium manager, Anders Albertsson. The stadium is the biggest of the Nordic countries, with seating capacity of 43 000 and a total capacity of 60 000 for concerts. But this will change in 2013 when Stockholm unveils its 65 000 capacity stadium.
As a result plans are afoot to protect the city’s tourism asset, with a competitive upgrade to 75 000 capacity. The stadium runs a successful business model that earns it commission, revenue and rent. It has three restaurants and a conference center. The core revenue stream is events and concerts. “The key to its success is the staging of a minimum of three major concerts a year. However the trick is not to share the artist with other cities therefore drawing people into the city for tourism,” said Chuene. “We want to use this strategy in Nelson Mandela Bay.”
“As an institution they are owned and bankrolled by the city. Though they run at a loss, it is offset by the benefit the events bring to the tourism industry.” Chuene said that Albertsson stressed that the success of any stadium and its sustainability depends on flexibility; creating meaningful relationships with the entertainment and tourism industry; have a holistic and inclusive approach for events including, creating event packages with hotels and game reserves. The Tur trip was deemed highly successful by NMBT, which hopes to launch Nelson Mandela Bay’s Route 67 public art walk in Gothenburg upon its completion by the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA).
CAPTION: GETTING CONNECTED: NMBT’s marketing manager, Titus Chuene (right) and chief executive, Mandlakazi Skefile, meet South African ambassador to Sweden, Zeph Makgetla and Ms. Allison Moos, Marketing Manager: Cango Caves (Oudtshoorn) at Tur 2011, Sweden’s leading trade fair last week.
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