Will there be life after 2010?

You can’t be blamed if you’re beginning to think that everyone in South Africa believes that the whole of the travelling world is planning to descend on us in the middle of this year. Considering the way prices are going (rentals? One operator told me that he was offered a 4-bedroom house in Pretoria for R300,000 – just for the month of the World Cup!), you’d think that demand was far outstripping supply – and that there was no future beyond the 12th of July 2010.

I’m beginning to despair.

May I point you to two links on the web:

(1) Lianne Burton’s article ‘Make 2010 a love affair, not a one night stand’  (Ms. Burton is the head of marketing at Cape Town Tourism): “It’s hard not to fall in love with Cape Town. But if we rip off World Cup visitors, we will almost certainly have to settle for being a one-night stand. Like many lost loves, it will be a wasted opportunity that might haunt us for years to come.” (She also makes the point that Sydney experienced a dramatic drop in tourism in the 3 years following its Olympic games, and that this was due to “greed.”)

… and (2) this one from The Telegraph in London: ‘South African hotels cash in on Cup’ – in which Charles Starmer-Smith writes that “Research this week on Hotels.com, the accommodation website, showed that the four-star, centrally located Cape Town Lodge Hotel, which from May 28 to June 5 charges £68 per room per night, is raising its rate on June 11, when the tournament gets under way, to £395. That is a rise of 480 per cent and makes its rate £120 more than the Ritz in London charges for a double room during the same period. Room rates at the five-star Compass House Boutique Villa in Bantry Bay, Cape Town, will rise from £58 per night to £312 – an increase of 438 per cent.”

… But (surprisingly) this is not a rant about high prices, price gouging, or even Stupidism (for which you can provide your own definition). No – rather it’s a moan about the apparent lack of any real planning for the period after the World Cup.

As Ms. Burton says, “Sydney, for instance, experienced a staggering decline in visitor numbers in the three years after hosting the Olympics in 2000, with ‘greed’ being singled out as a key factor and a painful lesson learnt.”

Yes – but by whom? Certainly not many South Africans.

Still, there is some hope, and I was particularly drawn to a recent media release from whl.travel

“R4.5 Million Project Boosts SA Tourism Beyond 2010 World Cup

“As South Africa prepares to host the world’s biggest sporting event, an innovative project by the African regional office of whl.travel, a global online travel-booking network of local tour operators, will ensure that small accommodation providers in Mpumalanga, Southern Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal are marketed beyond the hype of the 2010 World Cup to international travellers as well as to South Africans wanting to explore their own country.

“The project is being partly funded by the Shared Growth Challenge Fund, a Business Trust project which aims to stimulate pro-poor innovation and growth from the private sector. This R4.5 million, 18-month project aims at getting at least 150 accommodation providers online and sustainably positioned with enhanced exposure and bookable websites.

“Zachary Rozga from WHL Consulting, a partner in the project, explains that the project aims to “get bums in the beds of small and medium tourism accommodation venues by setting up unique websites for accommodation providers, as well as offering affordable package holidays that combine accommodation and fun activities for visitors.”

“The basis of the Shared Growth Challenge Fund project is a creative concept called the Tourism Development Bank, “which uses room nights as currency,” says Rozga. In return for paying a registration fee of R300 and donating 18 room nights, local accommodation providers are assessed for market readiness, and, if deemed market ready, receive:

• a selection of professionally taken photos of their property, including photos for use in ‘immersive tours’ where travellers can take a virtual online tour of a venue;
• a professionally drafted travel write-up highlighting the venue’s appeal to experiential and mindful travellers;
• a unique e-commerce website linked to the whl.travel global network;
• access to a local whl.travel tourism market training seminar.

“The 18 room nights, which Rozga calls “the bed bank,” will be used by whl.travel in affordable package holidays that combine accommodation with local tours and activities like river rafting, abseiling, horse-riding and hiking so boosting local tourism.

“The Shared Growth Challenge Fund project is being piloted through a partnership between the Africa regional office of whl.travel, WHL Consulting, which will manage the project, and three local whl.travel operators based in the Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal regions.

“Danny Pinkas from www.MpumalangaHighlands.Travel, one of the local whl.travel partners, describes the project as “a win-win situation for everyone involved, from tour operators and accommodation establishments to travellers as well as local communities, who will benefit from spinoffs.”

“Darron Raw from Raw Africa, www.kzn.travel, another whl.travel partner agrees: “Up until now a large number of SME accommodation and activity providers have not been able to participate effectively on the Internet, and this project will integrate them in a professional online e-marketing and booking service.”

“Says Jaco Lubbe of Induna Adventures, who oversees both www.panorama-tours.travel and www.krugersafaris.travel, “The outcome of this initiative will help local accommodation establishments to provide a more professional and technologically ‘with it’ service to the world. It will also create a platform and give the accommodation establishments the necessary tools to be more visible to specific target markets. I am convinced that this project will help make our piece of the earth more sustainable for generations to come.” [All the above are whl.travel portals]

“Both whl.travel and WHL Consulting are part of the WHL Group, the largest local-travel company in the world. whl.travel is a global online travel-booking network of local tour operators. It is the springboard for independent consumers headed off the beaten path and yearning to book accommodation, tours and other activities from local businesses, no matter how small, and especially those making socially responsible and sustainable decisions about their destinations, often in the developing world.”

In effect, what whl.travel has done is to recognise that the sun will rise on the 12th of July (the day after the final whistle has blown), just as it will on the 11th of June (the day the World Cup will start). But more, it’s also shown that it knows that not every traveler is a soccer fan – and that we have to work to attract the many who’ll stay away this year because we’ve got the Cup.

I wonder if South African Tourism and your local LTO have done so, too?

Join whl.travel in the Garden Route

If you’re a product owner in the Garden Route, you really ought to sign up with whl.travel (which, by the way, is a portal for both emerging and established tourism businesses). It’s free to join, and the company creates turnover on commissions on actual bookings – so there’s no risk involved at all.

The local portal – www.garden-route-tours.travel – is operated by Mossel Bay’s Back Road Safaris.

“whl.travel aims to be the first-choice in e-business for independent travellers and travel service providers – and it achieves this by partnering with MPOs like ourselves because we’re best placed to work directly with both attractions and accommodation providers and travellers in the field,” said Back Road Safaris’ Richard Mellors.

whl.travel is owned and operated by a team of people in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, India, South Africa, Switzerland, the USA and Vietnam – and it has MPOs in all these countries and more.

“This gives us unique access to a world of e-marketing specialists – and puts us in the direct line of sight of the would-be traveller when he or she is on line and looking to buy,” said Mr Mellors.

“Our team is working on registering accommodation, tours and attractions throughout the Garden Route so that the site can offer travellers the best and widest choice,” he said.

Visit whl.travel’s Garden Route Operator – Back Road Safaris – at 5 Marsh Street, Mossel Bay or online at www.garden-route-tours.travel. Or contact Jauckie Viljoen on +27(0)83 262 2307 or +27(0)44 690 8150 or e-mail trados@mweb.co.za

Now go away on holiday – it’s in the economy’s best interests…