Cape Town, 10 April 2019 – Static destination marketing strategies lead to diminishing tourism returns – that’s the position of Cape Town Tourism at World Travel Market Africa (WTM-Africa), 2019.
The organisation is highlighting what can be done to ensure that not only do past visitors return but that a fresh generation of visitors is enticed to explore for the first time.
Central to building on existing marketing strategies is the need to reach out to smaller existing source markets and to expand on the offering that appeals to those market, as well as developing a grand approach to creating new opportunities in source markets not yet delved into:
Cape Town Tourism has developed a programme geared towards tapping into the global Muslim travel market, one of the fastest growing markets on the planet, with a view to both preparing the city’s establishments and attractions in terms of capacity for appealing to the Muslim traveller’s specific needs and also in celebrating the rich culture of Cape Town for the benefit of locals.
“Every year, we monitor where our visitors come from and the growth or decline in those patterns; what we have realised is that while key source markets exist, the opportunities for growth can come from outside those markets, which is why an initiative such as encouraging Muslim-friendly tourism holds such potential to boost our tourism economy.” – Enver Duminy, CEO, Cape Town Tourism
The programme is now in its second year, in partnership with Crescent Rating, a Singapore-based organisation that assists destinations in providing relevant experiences to the Muslim travel market. So far, Cape Town Tourism has hosted a chef exchange with local chefs, created a glossary of terms about Muslim travel needs for use within the tourism sector, and laid the groundwork for a massive awareness campaign.
http://www.capetown.travel/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/CTT-Halal-Tourism-Guidelines-and-Glossary.pdf
For more on Muslim-friendly trips:
https://www.halaltrip.com/package/237/spectacular-south-africa-8n-9d/
This campaign, its goals and strategy will form a popular marketing pillar being discussed at World Travel Market Africa 2019, as destinations seek to enhance what they have on offer and refine marketing strategies.
“The sheer size of the growing Muslim travel market makes it common sense to ensure that we’re ready to welcome visitors from this market. Whether those visitors come from the Middle East, North Africa, Asia or even from our traditional source markets such as Germany or the UK, we must provide top-notch travel experiences to the Muslim market,” Duminy states.
The drive to attract the Muslim visitor is part of a larger marketing strategy that’s designed to ensure that, in all aspects of tourism, Cape Town can hold its own as competitive on the world stage.
Watch this short video for more information on Cape Town seeking to reach a global Muslim travel market with a value forecast to be US$200 billion by 2020:
Additional info:
In the global tourism sector, the Muslim travel market is extensively recognised as a prominent growing sector, projecting to be well worth $200 billion by 2020, according to the MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2015, which is the most comprehensive research that has been released on the sector.
A recent study has revealed that in 2015 the estimated total Muslim visitor arrivals were 117 million representing close to 10% of the entire travel economy. This global forecast is set to grow to 168 million visitors by 2020 and 11% of the market segment.
South Africa is also one of the five most popular non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations in the global Muslim travel market.
