Cape Town - Majestic Mother City - Essay Example

1. Located at the southern tip of the African continent is the majestic Mother which offers a variety of attractive features to the fun lovers from across the whole world. Cape Town is the name and this city is located in South Africa and is the gateway to one of the most attractive continent in terms of the natural tourist attractions dotted around it. This analysis is going to explore some of the factors that affect tourism in this chosen destination which lies in the southern region of Africa. In the African continent, South Africa forms the economic powerhouse and the Western Cape region of this country is home to one of the most diverse, dynamic and innovative economies on the continent as a whole (Western Cape Business 2009). This tourist destination is balanced with primary, secondary and tertiary economic activities as well as a skilled workforce that immensely contributes to the growth of this city. The city itself is comprised of world-class infrastructure, abundant natural resources and ready access to global markets which makes it easily accessible to other markets. According to the Western Cape Business (2009), "the Western Cape forms a highly competitive investment destination and exporting platform and has shown growth rates consistently higher than the national average, contributes close to 15% of the country's GDP and is home to nearly 10% of its population." Business and tourism in the Western Cape are booming as a result of many factors which will be fully discussed in the second part of this analysis. According to the information obtained from the Western Cape Business Guide (2009), "the growth rates in the region have consistently outperformed those of the country as a whole and the region attracts 16% of South Africa's total foreign direct investment." The region also has vast natural resources that are attractive to both international as well as local tourists who take pride in savouring some of the finest resorts that offer the best environment to the holiday makers. Despite the realities presented by the economic slowdown, 2008 remained a buoyant year for the South African tourism industry (Vivian Warby 2009). Statistics obtained from an article entitled 'Tourist arrivals remain buoyant,' by the mentioned writer indicate that the tourism minister is somewhat satisfied with the rate of tourist arrivals in the country. The Minister said the latest available figures for foreign arrivals, for the first 10 months of 2008, showed a strong increase in arrivals of 5.4% from January to October (Vivian Warby 2009). Whilst the arrivals from North America were reported to be stable in the above article, the arrivals from Australasia were up by 6.3% and arrivals from Middle East were up by 5.9% (Vivian Warby 2009). However, there has been a slight decline in the tourist arrivals from Europe and Southern America and this can be attributed to some other factors such as the global economic decline which has not spared the other entire industries world wide. There are also some factors that affect the development of tourism in this destination though they may not yield a very heavy impact on the industry. Social factors are often seen as a threat to the development of the industry in this region where crime is rampant and the unsuspecting tourists are often targeted. Crime such as murder, drug abuse as well as robbery is very common in South Africa and this is a major impediment that often distracts the efforts to fully market the region to the international community. Indeed, the region has many attractions which can make a great change if fully utilised. 2. "A SWOT analysis is a useful instrument for helping managers to identify internal strengths and weaknesses of a business and external opportunities and threats facing it," (Strydom J. p 31). Basically, SWOT stands for strengths (S), weaknesses (W) while on the other hand the external environmental factors are regarded as either opportunities (O) or threats (T). This analysis is very important to marketing managers as it allows them to focus on key strategic issues based on the notion that an effective strategy fully utilises the strengths and opportunities of a business and strives to minimise the weaknesses and threats. The SWOT analysis would be used in this section to highlight some of the factors that affect tourism in the above mentioned city. Whilst it is generally agreed that Cape Town is regarded as the hub of tourism in South Africa, there are also challenges facing it that need to be highlighted in detail. However, there are a lot of strengths which can be effectively harnessed by various organisations which aim to promote tourism in this scenic city which has got a lot of beautiful tourist attractions as going to be discussed below. Basically, this tourist destination is endowed with a lot of natural, attractive features which draw millions of visitors each year. Some of the magnificent tourist attractions found in Cape Town include the beautifully shaped mountain which has a shape which resembles the top of a table hence it derives its name from this. The Table Mountain is unbelievably flat on top and is just conveniently located overlooking the beautiful city. Hundreds of visitors are ferried to the top of the mountain by cable cars every day and these are convenient to visitors who wish to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the surround areas in Cape Town as they are saved from the hassle of climbing the mountain on foot. For a reasonable, fee the visitors are treated to various entertainment at the top of the mountain where they can also enjoy some refreshments. Other natural tourist attractions found in Cape Town include the Botanical gardens at Kirstinborsch. A variety of natural species are found in this area and they are preserved for the purposes of attracting tourists who are nature lovers. On top of this, Cape Town is a place where there are a lot of grapes and the biggest wineries in South Africa according to the information obtained from the official business guide in Cape Town. There are vasts of grape yards which also form part of the major tourist attractions in the Western Cape. Thousands of visitors go to these areas every year and they also contribute to the revenue generated through tourism activities around the city. The climate of the city makes it a little different from other regions the reason why grapes are favourable in the area. One of the most attractive tourist attractions in Cape Town is the Robben Island which is located in the Indian Ocean about 12 kilometres from the shores of Cape Town. This Island is historic in that the iconic first black president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela was incarcerated there and spent about 18 years during the apartheid era. There is a ferry which carry people there for many trips each day and it is always a hive of activity at this island. The gateway to the Robben Island is conveniently located at the V & A Waterfront which is also one of the best tourist attractions in Cape Town. This is comprised of the state of the art restaurants as well as hotels where the visitors can treat themselves to their favourite dishes served by highly competent staff. Another major attraction is the Cape Point where two oceans meet, Indian and Atlantic. Cape Town is home to people from a diverse cultural background which makes it very welcome and enjoyable to mix and mingle with almost any race you can think of. The original people of this region are predominantly coloured but there are also various other races living in the Mother City of South Africa. This city is culturally rich with diverse artefacts coming from various social backgrounds. On top of the enjoyable culture mix in Cape Town, the climate is also very nice given that in summer it would be sunny and no rain. Some visitors travel from very far away countries just to enjoy the sun since it would be limited in their original countries. Some of the weakness of tourism in this particular region is the aspect of barriers to communication as a result of language problems. In Western Cape there are mainly three official languages namely Afrikaans, English as well as the indigenous Xhosa. However, the majority of local people are not well educated to such an extent that they struggle to speak in English which is an international language. Most of the international tourists can only be addressed in English unless otherwise stated hence the need to have tour guides who are proficient in English which is an international language. However, the major threat to the booming tourism industry is the fact that crime is rampant in some areas in the Western Cape region. Cases of robbery and murder are very rife in all the media and it seems that the police alone are not capable of controlling the situation. Whilst there have not been many reported cases of tourists who were directly attacked, their movement to other sections of the city are often limited as a result of the violent crimes that are committed there on a daily basis. The problem with some less educated citizens is that they tend to abuse drugs and end up loosing self control. This often leads to the commission of heinous crimes such as murder and even robbery as they would be looking for money to satisfy their bad habits. The major opportunity in Cape Town is the fact that it still has the chance to renovate or expand the infrastructure such as hotels as well as the roads. Development of the infrastructure is often seen as the foundation of all tourist activities. However, the road and rail networks in Cape Town are regarded as one of the finest in the whole of South Africa. There is also an international airport which is advantageous in terms of arrivals of travellers from international destinations. This is also a great opportunity since the tourists can travel directly to their chosen destination without the hassles of connecting flights. Another opportunity which can be harnessed by the tourism industries in the above mentioned destination is that it also has a competent Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. The infrastructure allows easier access to the internet which is used as the fastest and efficient way of conducting business particularly bookings in hotels. The appropriate destination marketing strategy is relationship marketing. Relationship marketing is described as the process of establishing, maintaining, enhancing and commercialising customer relationships so that the objectives of the parties involved are met Strydom and Bennett (2001). Relationship marketing is particularly concerned with satisfying the customer needs. Disgruntled customers will also tell other potential customers about the bad service they would have received and this would lead to other potential customers shunning away from the service provided by certain players in the tourism industry. It follows that players who offer good customer service to their clients often stand better chances of attracting more clients in the future. Relationship marketing advocates that a business exists to satisfy customer needs and wants. Not only the people who are directly in contact with the customers are expected to offer good customer service but even those who are not in contact with the customers. Customer service is the foundation of successful tourism industry given that the visitors would have sacrificed their hard earned cash to travel from afar places to enjoy themselves hence there would be every need for them to be fairly treated in a satisfactory manner. Indeed, the tourists are people who travel for the sake of leisure in most cases and they should get the leisure they deserve from good customer care practices by the workers. 3. It is highly recommended that there should be aggressive marketing strategies particularly targeting the grassroots levels where eco-tourism can be given prominence for instance. Whilst there are some initiatives meant to stimulate this kind of tourism at grassroots levels, it can be noted that the majority of local people seem to have little knowledge about tourism in their city. For instance the World hotel (WHL) is one major organisation that seeks to promote tourism at grassroots levels. The problem is that little effort is put to promote tourism to local people compared to international visitors who come to the country on a daily basis. The promotion of tourism to the local people would also contribute towards the revenues generated and it would also promote people to travel around their city. Another strategy of improving quality, service and a better relationship with the consumer is by establishing call centres. According to Strydom and Bennet (2001), call centres are strategic to the success of business because they facilitate easy access between the consumer and the service provider through an instrument that is familiar to all the people. These centres will be mainly concerned with providing the necessary information that may be required by the customer at any given time. Information dissemination forms the back borne of conducting business during these days. Various instruments can be used to disseminate information and these can include, phone, telefax as well as the internet. These are a bit fast and efficient and they allow the customer to access any information he or she may want instead of waiting for somebody to attend to his or her query. It would also be recommended that there is need for organisations concerned with the tourism industry to attempt to embark on relationship marketing always as a way of retaining the customers. Satisfied customers are loyal customers in most cases and there would be likely chances of loyal customers of coming back again. Relationship marketing is described as the process of establishing, maintaining, enhancing and commercialising customer relationships so that the objectives of the parties involved are met Strydom and Bennet (2001). There is need for all the players to establish a good working relationship as a way of creating loyalty among the customers. Loyal customers are likely to return again for the good service that would have been offered to them. With the opportunity to host prestigious international events such as the FIFA Soccer World which is to take place in South Africa in 2010, this would be the finest chance for the tourism industry to benefit immensely if the sector is presented in the correct way to the world. Efforts should be made to aggressively market the tourism industry in a positive way that would attract as many visitors as possible. The Soccer World Cup is going to be a very huge world event and can be unbelievably going to be the best opportunity for the tourism sector. It is recommended that proper planning should be taken into consideration so as to make the tourism industry as much attractive as possible so as to generate more revenue from the tourist arrivals. Over and above, it can be noted that Cape Town is the pride of South Africa and has full of potential of being an internationally acclaimed destination if properly marketed. This destination is comprised of a lot of attractive features ranging from the natural to human made features. Whilst it is generally accepted that tourism is a booming industry in South Africa, it is also recommendable that aggressive marketing should be done so as to counter the negative publicity often given to the country as a result of the rampant crime rate in some sections of the country. References Bennett A. & George R. (2004), South African Travel and Tourism Cases, Van Schaik, SA Bennett JA & Strydom JW (2001), Introduction to Marketing, Juta, SA Mohapi D. & Merwe R. (2007), Viva Tourism, Ultra litho (Pty) Ltd, SA Strydom J. (2004), Marketing, 3rd Edition, Juta & Co Ltd, SA Western Cape Business (2008), A guide to Business and investment in Western Cape, Department of Social Development, Western Cape. Western Cape Business, Retrieved on 29 Apr. 09, From: http://www.westerncapebusiness.co.za/ World hotel link, Retrieved on 29 Apr. 09, From: www.whl.co.za Vivian Warby , 'Tourist arrivals remain buoyant,' (28 January 2009), Retrieved on 29 April 2009, From: http://www.southafrica.info/travel/tourism-280109.htm Read More