By Joe Mwase, Chairman of Cape TownRoutes Unlimited

The Cape Times lead story titled "Cape tourism body 'a mess'" reflects some misguided perceptions about the mandate and achievements of Cape Town Routes Unlimited.

Cape Town Routes Unlimited's mandate is to attract more tourists to the Western Cape, ensure that they stay longer, spend more, visit throughout the year, have more reasons to do so and spread out across the Western Cape. A further mandate is to promote transformation of the tourism industry in the Western Cape.

So rather than speculating on what the individuals quoted in the piece hope to achieve by depicting the organisation as being in disarray, the following benchmarks and achievements should be used to measure its contribution since its inception in 2004.:

Seasonality: In 2002/2003 there was a 33% decline in arrivals during the low season months. Again in 2003/2004 there was a 4% decline during the same low season period. It was only after Cape Town Routes Unlimited's seasonality strategy implementation that the destination reversed that trend by attaining an 8.2% growth in arrivals during low season months. And the growth trend has been retained in 2006 as indicated by the first- and second-quarter results which show an 8% growth in arrivals during this period. This helps transform seasonal jobs into year-round ones. Are we meeting our mandate of making sure tourists visit throughout the year? Yes.

Volume: Cape Town and the Western Cape have achieved the highest increase in arrivals above national average in our major and targeted markets, namely the UK, Germany, USA and Asian countries. The total number of international arrivals to the Western Cape grew by 4% in 2005 over 2004 compared to 0.5% growth in 2004 over 2003. We expect even higher growth for 2005/2006 when the full year's statistics are made available. Are we meeting our mandate of increasing the number of visitors? Yes.

Regional Spread: One of Cape Town Routes Unlimited goals is to encourage visitors to spread out across the province. Since Cape Town Routes Unlimited's inception that regional spread has increased to other areas of the Western Cape. For instance, visitors to the Winelands increased from 42% to 67%, the Garden Route from 37% to 48% by December 2006 as well as other regions as compared to insignificant proportions prior to Cape Town Routes Unlimited's geographic spread strategy. Are we meeting our mandate of ensuring tourists see more of the province than just Cape Town? Yes.

Spend: The total spend from international visitors to the Western Cape rose and achieved a record-breaking 67.4% in 2005 from R8.9billion in 2004 to R14.9 billion in 2005. This tremendous growth has been above national average. Are we successfully encouraging visitors to spend more while they're here? Yes.

Duration of stay: The total bed nights spent in the Western Cape by international visitors rose by 4.7% in 2005 compared to the previous year, with an impressive 28% share of bed nights from international visitors nationally. Cape Town and the Western Cape have achieved the highest bed nights arrival ratio in the country. So, at the risk of belabouring the point, are we meeting our mandate to make visitors stay longer? Yes.

Business tourism: In 2005/2006 a total of 19 bids were secured and an additional 17 submitted with a combined economic impact of some R436 million between 2007 and 2016. In 2006 alone, nine international association bids were secured by Cape Town Routes Unlimited's Convention and Events Bureau in partnership with the Cape Town International Convention Centre. These bids will bring about 24 800 delegates to the destination with a combined estimated economic impact of more than R232 million between 2007 and 2014. So, is Cape Town Routes Unlimited meeting its mandate to grow business tourism, giving tourists more reasons to come here? The statistics say so.

SMME development: Cape Town Routes Unlimited has assisted 185 emerging entrepreneurs by exposing them to local and international leisure and business tourism markets such as the Cape Tourism Showcase, Indaba, World Travel Market, Meetings Africa and SA Tourism India Roadshow. Of these, 110 entrepreneurs are based in Cape Town.

Accolades for the city and province last year included the US Condé Nast Traveller Awards, which rated Cape Town the eighth best city in the world, ahead of Paris, New York and London. In the same survey Cape Town was rated the top city in Africa and the Middle East. The Observer Travel Awards rated it the fourth top city in the world, up from sixth position in 2005. The International Association of Golf Travel Operators rated the Garden Route as the top golf destination in Africa and the Middle East.

Events tourism: The Cape Town and the Western Cape brand have been exposed to over a 1.3 million people at events in the city and the province in the past three years. These events have generated a combined economic impact of over R1bn.

All this bodes well for the destination's profile leading up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the best opportunity yet for Cape Town and the Western Cape to promote itself as the world's premier tourist destination.

The impressive growth in tourism in the last two years ought to reassure stakeholders that the organisation - and by extension, tourism in the province - is on a steady, strategically planned upward trajectory of growth. It must also be borne in mind that brand equity can't be prepared in a microwave oven. Maturing a brand takes time.

So while we can directly link the growth in tourism numbers to our marketing strategies, we acknowledge that partnerships and individual product marketing initiatives have been crucial for the growth we are experiencing. Successful examples include those with entities like Fedhasa, SATSA and private companies such as those involved in the destination's signature events.

The destination brand is being used by long-standing events like the Pick 'n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Tour, the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, the ABSA Cape Epic mountain bike race and the J&B Met in positioning their events within the destination.

Cape Town and the Western Cape's tourism statistics indicate that the destination is on a historic high and the people at the helm of Cape Town Routes Unlimited have had and will continue to have a clear vision of what the organisation needs to achieve. All indications are that the brand is ideally positioned to capitalise on 2010.

Ms Herman's story contains but a single fact: that Sheryl Ozinsky has resigned. It may take some time for every guesthouse owner and politician to be won over by the efforts of a professional team marketing the world's most exciting destination, but the numbers attest to its success.

Statistics: SA Tourism, Western Cape Universities Research Consortium

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