THIS TOURISM WEEK Number 51 - Tuesday, 29 August 2006

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SATSA Conference

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PROUDLY BAREFOOT AND FULLY SOUTH AFRICAN

SATSA - the Southern Africa Tourism Services Organisation - held its annual conference in Mossel Bay last weekend.

SATSA’s logo is billed as ‘The Mark of Quality Tourism in South Africa’ and the Association says that “the right to place [it] on advertising material and to display a SATSA certificate of membership at your premises are signs to prospective tourism buyers that your company offers services of a high quality and is a credible member of the tourism industry.

“In these days of increasing internet use, buyers are looking for companies that have some kind of guarantee of quality. To become a SATSA member, you have to comply with the highest standards of business integrity and safety, offering your customers a top quality product. Throughout the world the SATSA logo is a symbol of quality tourism.

“SATSA also offers many benefits to its members. Most important of these is the opportunity to interact with your peers in the industry at regular Chapter meetings and at the annual SATSA conference. Benefits… range from high quality insurance to AIDS education and insurance for your staff. There are special benefits relating to travel shows, mentoring, updated information on key industry issues, a legal service at very low cost and many more… SATSA’s National and Chapter offices are there to help you at every stage of your business.”

The quality of the speakers at the conference should be enough to attract anyone to SATSA. They included:

  • Andre Fourie of the National Business Institute (”The South African Business Landscape” - Who is big business? What is the role of trade bodies, chambers of commerce and other organisations - and how should the play together?)
  • Cees Bruggemans - well-known economist with First National Bank (”South Africa’s Economic Prospects” - applying the latest information in business);
  • Ian Bartes of the Airports Company of South Africa (”Seasonality: Its Socio-economic Impact on the Western Cape”);
  • Martin Jansen van Vuuren of Grant Thornton (”Insights into the Business Tourism Market” - findings and trends from recent studies)
  • Nazeem Martins - Business Partners (”Sourcing and Securing Funds for Your Tourism Business”);
  • Rob Davidson of the University of Westminster (”Opportunities and Challenges in 21st Century Business Tourism” - how the profile of the business tourist has changed; the importance of education and training; the opportunities presented by information technology. And turning business travellers into leisure tourists);
  • Harry Teifel of Daimler Chrysler (”Tourism Mobility: Leading into 2010″ - where is tourism transport going in the not-too-distant future. And will South Africa solve its public transport problems before the games begin?); and
  • Tumaini Leshoai of SA Tourism (”Domestic Tourism” - a perspective on the sector and the Sho’t Left Campaign).

Interestingly, the conference coincided with the launch of the new-look Tourism Tattler, SATSA’s magazine which, according to editor Marjorie Dean, is hoping to become the tourism trade’s “medium for information, education and discussion throughout Southern Africa,” reaching “as far as possible within the industry and beyond.”

SATSA has had a rough time of it in recent months and the organisation’s Acting CEO, Michael Tatalias, was quite open about the situation regarding the dismissal of his predecessor in his annual report - but it seems that everything is back on track again and that SATSA “is on a road to far more exciting opportunities than we have ever had.”

And the organisation seems to have learned from its past: “we will have to be vigilant to ensure that … we vigorously maintain our intellectual and financial independence” - without which “our ability to positively influence the development of the tourism industry will be negatively affected. The scope and need for our participation is huge (given the very unique and unmatched intellectual capital that resides within the membership of our association) and is becoming increasingly understood and widely accepted. The potential rewards of making bod and crucial contributions to the development of our industry are immense, not only for our own members, but for the country as a whole.”

Land Rover G4 Spirit of Adventure

Remember to follow this year’s Land Rover G4 Spirit of Adventure on my site - http://www.thistourismweek.co.za/.

The  Land Rover G4 Spirit of Adventure is aimed at those of use who love the Land Rover lifestyle - and not at the super athletes in adventure racing’s ultimate international competition, the Land Rover G4 Challenge.

Have you put your name forward to be entered into the Land Rover G4 Spirit of Adventure? - If you want to Go Beyond next year, go to http://www.landrover.co.za/ and click on the ‘Adventures’ page. You’ll find your way from there…

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Building a site for a tourism product requires a lot of careful thought because no tourist attraction or tourism service operates in a vacuum. You need to paint a comprehensive picture of the mix of attractions that visitors can expect - because the more there is to do, the longer they’ll stay. And this is something that ChakariNet, with their extensive experience in tourism marketing, knows just how to do.

Careful thought and hard-won experience: that’s why I like the Leopard Mountain Lodge site. Visit http://www.leopardmountain.co.za/ and

…Have a Great Tourism Week!

 

MARTIN HATCHUEL - BarefootWriter

VISIT THIS TOURISM WEEK

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… AND AN INVITATION

I’m always looking for subjects for feature articles in This Tourism Week. Please mail mailto:martin@barefootclients.co.za?subject=Invitation:%20TTW if you’ve got information of broad general interest to more than 6,200 readers in South Africa’s Tourism Industry.

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It’s simple. We believe that successful marketing creates relationships - friendships - between businesses and their customers. Our job is to help you develop friendships with your clients: to make them so comfortable with you that they’ll happily walk Barefoot On The Beach with you … Because business works best between friends. That’s the BarefootBenefit.

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ABOUT THIS TOURISM WEEK

This Tourism Week is a personal e-letter and informed commentary on issues affecting South Africa’s tourism industry. If you don’t want to read it, please e-mail mailto:martin@barefootclients.co.za?subject=TTW%20UNSUBSCRIBE - but if you think it’s worth sharing, please forward this message to your friends and ask them to subscribe.

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