by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) For many South Africans, and not only those who live there, Cape Town has a special place in their hearts. For many, it’s the ideal holiday destination, and has the proud distinction of being the South African city most foreign tourists want to visit. In fact, Cape Town it is recognised as one of most desired destinations worldwide.
Promoting the Mother City may seem like a dream job, but there is a lot that has to be considered when marketing a city. And when it comes to tourism, most people are more inclined to base their purchasing decision on what they read on a blog or a review site than in conventional channels. What makes this complex is that these days there is a lot of “noise” competing for people’s attention when it comes to making choices of where to go on holiday.
The challenge for marketers is how to cut through the clutter. Cape Town Tourism and its agency has done this quite smartly with the current ‘Love Cape Town’ campaign, an extension of the ongoing campaign that lives under the slogan of “You don’t need a holiday, you need Cape Town.” It includes Facebook competitions, a Twitter angle, blogging promotions and an Instagram competition. The idea is to get a conversation going about the tourist venue in social media, and this strategy has intelligently built the city’s brand over recent years. For this month, being tourism month, the hashtag #lovecapetown has been adopted to bring all the elements of the campaign together.
