This week:
• New Industry Web Site
• Indaba Interviews With Three Tourism Directors
So how was Your Indaba?
(WHAT!? You didn’t go this year? No! Why not? – you should’ve: it was brilliant).
Bet you didn’t expect me to say THAT, didya?
No you didn’t - because you’ve bought into the doom and gloom, and you’re not going to believe a word I say, are you? Well, three tourism directors (and many, many people I spoke to during and after the show) agree: this was the most unusual Indaba ever – because the guys had their heads down and they were working. There was no time for jorling: there was a sense of urgency, and also a sense of anticipation (hell, 2010’s only 385 days away).
To prove that what I say is true, watch interviews that I did during the show with Marcia Holm (Mossel Bay Tourism), Shaun van Eck (Knysna Tourism) and Cyril Clark (Oudtshoorn Tourism) here – and you can draw your own conclusions. They’re all on This Tourism Week and on my YouTube Channel (more about which in a few weeks’ time. But get this: The Americans watched 140 billion videos on line in April 2009 alone – a 26% increase over March. Yip – 26%. One month. Have YOU got videos on your site?)
Of course the Indaba wasn’t perfect: there were niggles and worries over things like security (according the eBlockWatch web site, a number of rental cars were targeted for robbery in the show compound), and there wasn’t much evidence (well, not much that I saw) of green awareness.
But it was fun. And there was a feeling of freshness, of new beginnings, of excitement. As CNN’s Richard Quest said at the start of the Global Media Face-off: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (and where the Dickens he got THAT from, I just don’t know – but it became a kind of watchword for our few days in Durban).
The international operators I spoke to were excited by our successful and peaceful elections, by the amazing feat of our hosting the IPL at such short notice, and by the potential, the sheer potential of South Africa as a destination. And, of course, by the Disky Dance (ahead of 2010, our new national volskpeletjie – which everyone at Indaba was trying to learn. I have two left feet).
All-in-all, a fine upstanding Indaba… See you next year?
New Industry Web Site Offers Valuable On-line Information, Commissions on Car Hire, And More
BnB Sure - which offers the most comprehensive insurance policy for the B&B and guesthouse industry in South Africa, and which last year launched it’s ‘Seal of Insurance,’ (an on-line and hard-copy device that assures guests that an establishment is properly and comprehensively insured) - has launched it’s new web site: www.bnbsure.co.za.
It’s a site that offers information and resources that go way beyond insurance - and that will be of value to both owners and their guests.
Allied to the site, the popular BnB Finder site (www.bnbfinder.co.za) offers the buying public - and the trade - a reservations service which is free to policyholders.
Policyholders can also now go on line to add BnB Finder’s Rent-a-Car service to their BnB Finder pages (and so earn 10% commission on car hire through First Car Rental www.firstcarrental.co.za). In addition, the BnB Finder Travel service helps travel agent to book guests into policy holder’s establishment, and the newly-launched BnB Sure Club ensures discounts on various items and services needed by guesthouses.
The parallel web site - My Bed And Breakfast (www.mybedandbreakfast.co.za) has been designed to help existing and prospective establishment owners with information on starting and running B&Bs in South Africa, and covers legal requirements, marketing a bed and breakfast, and a list of associations and interest groups, as well as a Broker Finder which allows owners to search for insurance brokers in their areas.
“BnB Sure recognises that operating an accommodation establishment is more than a business - it’s a complete way of life,” said the company’s founder, Dave Jack. “Through our web sites and services, we’re aiming to make that life as pleasant and easy as possible.”
Enquiries: Lana Mizen, General Manager, BnB Sure - lana@bnbsure.co.za
Now – go away on holiday. It’s in the economy’s best interests…
Stumble It!
3 users commented in " This Tourism Week: 20 May 2009 "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHey Martin, great as always to read The Tourism Week. However, I am bummed we did not meet at Indaba!!!!!
My observations of Indaba was that it was definitely not as busy as the previous years, however because of the recession and everything else, I think that we actually had serious buyers only. As a result, we had what I reckon was my most productive Indaba EVER. This was my Indaba # 10 of which is was my # 8 since my own and # 4 actually exhibiting on a stand. We were flat out until the last day where we left it opened so that we could chin wag with industry people and people other people who were exhibiting. It was great. Having said that, it is not to say that these productive meetings will translate to bookings right away, but what it means is that there is a strong bonding and cementing of old and new relationships and that is what Indaba is about, net working and maintaining a strong presence in the market place.
Keep on keeping on with the writing…..
Cheers mate
Beks
Hello Martin,
REFERENCE YOUR QUESTION REGARDING SMALL BUSINESSES AND INDABA
Your question is: “do you think there is any way a small player can benefit from Indaba, and how?
The answer to the first part is easy and is a most definite YES!
The answer to the second part of your question is a lot more difficult and not something that can be put in a snappy three liner.
The vast majority of service providers in the tourism business are small businesses going right down to one man tour guides and it is these businesses, along with emergent businesses, that the government claims it wants to develop.
To give you an example as to how large that group is, TKZN recently identified over 1400 tourism related businesses or service providers in the Battlefields Route alone. Of these possibly 5 were able to afford to attend Indaba. Which is a clear indication of how little of the industry Indaba is serving.
Most of these businesses are Bed and Breakfast establishments, curio outlets, restaurants, tour Guides and so on which are just turning over a small income for their owners but not enough to launch into major advertising. They are also businesses that really do not know how to get into the mainstream Tourism Channel and need helping.
I believe by being able to experience Indaba they will realise just what is required to service the larger organisations and the larger organisations will be able appreciate the existence of these smaller players.
Let me try and give an example: At Talana Museum there is the Miners’ Restaurant. It is a very basic place but the food is good and wholesome, the service is quick and the prices very reasonable. It is very popular amongst the Battlefield Tour Guides because their clients enjoy it and appreciate not having been taken to some fancy place where they are fleeced for the same food. But there is absolutely no chance that the owner could afford a stand at Indaba but her service would be invaluable to the tour bus companies that pass that way and for tour operators planning trips through the area. Next door to the restaurant is a curio shop, so if you take the museum, restaurant and curio shop you suddenly have three tourism attractions at one point. But who is going to know about it unless one of the operators is able to afford to go to Indaba and network with the big tour operators so that they can include this point in their itinerary?
A similar situation occurs with the Bed and Breakfast establishments. There are a growing number of tour operators now operating mini-busses, often running specialised tours where the big busses operate and it is important that they have a point where they can network with the many very attractive lodges and small game and other resorts and accommodation providers around the country as well as knowing the various attractions in particular areas.
I would like to see a situation where travel agents are able to offer custom packages to the free independent travel along the lines of offering them a wide variety of places to see and things to do right across the country with details of how long they would require at these sites, costs and so on that the traveller can then choose from. Once the traveller has chosen the destinations the agent is able to book accommodation at these smaller establishments, arrange for guides where necessary and then meet the traveller at the airport with the hired car of choice provide him with all the maps and information he needs to find his way (even provide a GPS in the vehicle) and send him off knowing that everything foreseeable has been taken care of.
Perhaps you feel that Indaba is not the place for this level of networking and that we actually need a pre-Indaba event that caters for this level of networking, if so then the Indaba organisation or Dept of Tourism needs to set one up.
There is another issue that I want to take up with Indaba, although it does not involve the Indaba organisation itself. In KwaZulu Natal, Tourism KwaZulu Natal provides funds for marketing its various brands but these funds go directly to District Municipalities who then staff the stand with municipal staffers who often have no idea what facilities and attractions are available in their area and are certainly in no position to negotiate with other players in the industry. All they do is hand out the brand brochure.
As an example. The Battlefields Route was set up as a development project back in the late 1980s to encourage more tourists to visit an area of the province that previously saw very few visitors. It was, up until the formation of District Municipalities funded by local municipalities on the route because it was felt that most of the businesses, and certainly the emergent businesses could not afford a fee for membership. But these funds have always been minimal and the work creating and promoting the Route has been done largely by unpaid volunteers. Under the new dispensation the responsibility for funding should be the responsibility of the District Municipalities but other than Zululand nothing is forthcoming. The Battlefields Route is now the largest Route in KwaZulu Natal, covering 5 District Municipalities and almost two thirds of the Province. It has seen a substantial increase in visitors to these areas, it has become one of the major brands of TKZN and its promotion of the Anglo Zulu War has created such an interest in Zulu Culture that this is becoming greater than the interest in the Battlefields. However the only way this organisation is able to attend Indaba is by begging one of the District Municipalities on the Route for a place on their stand!
The question perhaps should have been does Indaba serve the Tourism Industry as a whole or just a well heeled minority.
Regards
Dave Sutcliffe
Hon Sec Battlefields Route
Thanks for your insightful and well-thought out answer Dave - I will alert SA Tourism to this post.
Perhaps there is a case for a ‘fringe’ Indaba, where, for example, one-person businesses and SMMEs are given places at tables set up in the unused part of the ICC? But one wonders if the operators would have time to visit them? Although, of course, the success of everyone’s Indaba is the work they put into beforehand - making their appointments - and afterward, in their follow-up.
Martin Hatchuel
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