SA Exports Tourism Expertise 16 March, 2007

You know you’ve really arrived as a destination when you find yourself exporting your tourism expertise. And South Africa’s latest export is Rick Taylor of the Business Tourism Company: he presently finds himself in Belgrade, where he is on an assignment to share his knowledge of international best practice in business tourism with Serbia’s Tourism Authorities.

Rick spent 20 years in advertising before joining our industry 13 years ago and he has extensive experience in the management, marketing and growth of big brands - and big destinations. Amongst his many achievements: he successfully established the country’s first Convention Bureau in Cape Town and, of course, having managed his own hotel, he’s had hands-on experience of tourism, too.

As CEO of The Business Tourism Company, Rick’s reputation is recognised around the world and, he said, “We have the privilege of living in South Africa and working globally which keeps us fresh and crisp.”

His clients in South Africa include North West Parks & Tourism, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, the Sandton Convention Centre, the Tourism Grading Council, The Tourism Business Council of SA and Tshwane International Conference Centre.

“As emerging destinations Serbia and the city of Belgrade are looking towards establishing themselves on the international stage,” he said. “I’m providing direction on creating a global destination strategy and business plan and I’m presenting leadership and management workshops and training to groups of hoteliers, PCOs, DMCs, convention venues, airlines and the Airport Company.

“Really exciting stuff.”

Rick said that while the focus is mostly on business tourism, his work “naturally cascades to leisure, too, as both sectors work hand in hand.

            “The convention centre is a key component of the Belgrade business tourism jigsaw puzzle and with this comes professional services offered by PCOs, DMCs, hoteliers and so on.”

            “Initial efforts to draw the conference market to Belgrade (and then to the rest of Serbia) will in time start to draw the corporate and then the incentive markets.

“The target market is regional - i.e. the Balkan States - and then the rest of Europe.

            “My work includes seeing to the creation of a collateral look and feel, itinerary differentiation and developing nuggets that will magnetize Eastern and Western Europe to this neck of the woods.

            “There’s massive potential here.”

            On Belgrade itself, Rick said, “It has a very European feel, a post-communistic chic,” but he admitted that he’s “naturally biased - so their tourism products don’t compare with South Africa at all.”

            But, he said, “the city has been battered (remember the war only ended in 1999) so many buildings literally have massive holes in them. But each day I discover more and more and the place becomes more appealing.

            “It’s certainly not like the Western Cape with all that natural beauty but there is a shine beneath the grime. Belgrade is at the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers so it’s perfect for cruises and boat-styled restaurants.

            “And talking of restaurants - they are plentiful and really good here. Some very modern and contemporary, funky, others really steeped in the past. Most charming and appealing.

“The wine industry is starting to flourish, too, and Belgrade could well take its place alongside Cape Town as one of the next Great Wine Capitals of the World.

“The place is a developers dream and with the current talk of Serbia joining the EU in the not-too-distant future, it’s going to cook.

“But ahead of them lies a much harder marketing job than we have at home,” he said.

Rick’s contract in Belgrade will be coming to a close soon, and then he’s off to Australia where, he said, “I’ll be activating a market assessment on Tourism Australia’s behalf - although I can’t reveal too much as it’s highly competitive.”

And I find this amazing - having come of age in tourism at a time when the Australian model was everything South Africa aspired to be.

But there you are - now WE’RE telling THEM what to do.

News just in is that the Bad Guest web site - www.badguest.co.za - has helped to track down (and nail) its first criminal; a bilker who’d been defrauding guest houses around KwaZulu Natal for some time.

The man had used several names and ID numbers - but only one cell number and one hire car. Trouble for him was, his details had been posted to www.badguest.co.za, the car had been fitted with a tracking device, someone saw the information on the site, the police were alerted and he was caught at the airport and arrested.

Tourism industry 1; criminals, 0.

And if you want to increase the score, you, too, should be a member of www.badguest.co.za

Want to tap into the power of internet marketing? Want to speak to my audience? Mail me if you have a product or service that’s of interest to the tourism industry - and let’s see how we can use This Tourism Week to better tourism in the Beloved Country.

 …Have a Great Tourism Week! MARTIN HATCHUELBarefootWriter 

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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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