THIS TOURISM WEEK Number 48 - Monday, 31 July 2006

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An Interview With SA Tourism’s New Marketing Chief

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PROUDLY BAREFOOT AND FULLY SOUTH AFRICAN

South African Tourism’s new chief marketing officer, Kingsley Potter, started his new job at the beginning of this month.

Mr Potter is responsible for all the affairs of the organisation’s Marketing Unit - which means delivering the Tourism Growth Strategy by fine-tuning the Marketing Growth Strategy, developing marketing plans and leading his team in their execution of these plans.

He has gained extensive experience in marketing and strategy from his work in the advertising industry and the corporate world: before coming to South Africa Tourism, he was Managing Director and Director of Strategy at Herdbuoys éKapa in Cape Town. And before that, he spent seven years as a Brand Manager for South African Breweries.

He has a BA in Psychology and International Relations from the University of Witwatersrand, IMM certificates in several subjects and a Marketing Strategy Diploma from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business.

I gave him a few weeks to settle in before I asked him a few questions:

What does he feel are the unique qualities that won him this position?

“My history has both depth and breadth in the corporate world and the advertising industry. I believe the nature of my work and achievements of the past significantly contributed to my being offered the opportunity to make difference. Stephen Hawking says, ‘We are in the age of complexity,’ but I would add that on the other side of that lies Simplicity.

“Simplicity is what we must produce and present to the world and complexity is what we must manage to produce simplicity. I bring the talent to be able to do that to South African Tourism.”

How will he bring his qualities to bear on his work in the organisation?

“The global tourism industry is both complex and powerful. Global trends indicate that the industry will continually poise itself for growth - and to enhance our share of that growth we must present our country’s offering simply, compellingly and passionately. I work with a team of people who have deep knowledge of the tourism industry and we harness our collective intelligence to make South Africa a gem of a destination.”

How does he deal with pessimists who say “we won’t be able to do” World Cup 2010?

“All people must have their say. We will continue providing positive information about our country and our capabilities. Those amongst us who doubt SA’s capability have only to look at major past events that we have successfully hosted and the overriding confidence that FIFA continues to show towards our capability. We have challenges and we will overcome them brilliantly.”

Was he in Germany during the World Cup and if so, what did he learn that he’d like to apply to 2010?

“I wasn’t in Germany - but South African Tourism is compiling a report on the lessons learned from the 2006 World Cup which will enhance our thinking and ensure that our plans for 2010 will maximally benefit South Africa.”

How does he see the run-up and the aftermath as marketing opportunities?

“Both aspects are important. Yes, South Africa will benefit incrementally with 2010 on the horizon, but we are managing a business that must be sustainable for many, many years for the success of our country. We will manage the run-up skilfully, remembering that 2010 is but one aspect of our business. We focus on Leisure Travel and Business Tourism and 2010 sits in our Opportunistic / Events business segment. Our job is sustainability across all three.”

Does he feel 2010 will change the way tourism works in South Africa? How can it be leveraged to significantly increase the presence of black people in the industry?

“We will continue to lobby and provide deep support, as per our tourism mandate, to ensure that transformation in the tourism industry finds reality.”

And did he support Italy or France in the final?

My support was for Italy; no historical reason. However, I must note that a week after the World Cup SA Tourism had a business planning session in Milan - their reception of South Africans was rather warm.

And (crucially) what does Kingsley the person likes or dislike?

Thought and action are two interesting notions that have occupied me for many years: thoughts are powerful when crafted well and give birth to action.

http://www.wessa.org.za/

WESSA - the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa - is one of the best-known NGO’s in South Africa’s wildlife and conservation block. And, at 80, it’s quite possible one of the oldest.

In achieving its mission - “to promote public participation in caring for the Earth” - WESSA publishes two magazines, African Wildlife and EnviroKids (which many of us older kids will remember as “Toktokkie”)  as well as a host of handbooks and educational material in their Share Net series. They’re also active lobbyists who have contributed to important pieces of legislation like the National Park Act and, famously, successfully campaigned against mining at Lake St Lucia. And they’re great friends of the tourism industry, too, offering bush breakaways at Madikwe and in Botswana, canoe tours on the Zambezi River and Wildlife Safaris in various untouched Southern and East African destinations.

Visit them at http://www.wessa.org.za/ … and

…Have a Great Tourism Week!

 

MARTIN HATCHUEL - BarefootWriter

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