Marilyn Lewis elected to the board of TBCSA

 

 

At the AGM of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), held on the 4th of August, Marilyn Lewis, Thebe Tourism Group Acting CEO, was elected to the new TBCSA Board along with 21 other members representing corporate businesses as well as various trade associations. In accordance with the TBCSA Constitution, the Board is elected for a two year period. Both the Chairman and Deputy Chairman will be elected at its next seating later in October.


According to the TBCSA the aim of the new Board will be to unify the private sector; drive the collection of the Tourism Marketing Levy together with the Tourism Marketing Levy South Africa (TOMSA) Board and SA Tourism (SAT) and to engage with SAT on the application of the levies; to constructively engage with all levels of Government in line with The New Growth Path and to address the challenges facing the sector.


It is significant that TTG is represented on the board amongst some of the industry’s biggest role-players. We wish Marilyn Lewis and the other board members well in achieving the objectives that has been set for them...full story

 

 

The Wild Club conference

 

 

The Club Travel Conference 2011, themed ‘Wild Wild BEST’, was held on 11 & 12 June 2011 at Spier, Stellenbosch.

The conference kicked off with a performance from the ‘To be a Child Again Choir’ from Hout Bay, one of the initiatives supported by Club Travel Cares. The Guest Speaker was Ian Thomas who gave his internationally acclaimed ‘The Power of the Pride’ and ‘The Spoor of Success’ talks.

The morning conference was followed by ‘Travelport Idols’. Teams had to perform ‘karaoke style’ and were judged by the likes of ‘Van the Man, Judge Ginger & Lady Giga’.

The highlight of the conference was the dress-up awards evening. The ‘Western’ themed evening allowed guests to get very creative and Hapiloe Sello, Club Travel Director and TTG General Manager: Marketing, had a tough time judging all the amazing costumes...full story

 

 

A warm winter with TEPG

 

 

This winter, TEPG chose to support Jacaranda 94.2's annual Winter Warmer campaign, an initiative that was launched 6 years ago in an effort to warm up a cold winter for thousands from various homes, shelters and orphanages.

Last year the initiative warmed more than 23 000 hearts and donations totalled almost R1m. This year, TEPG took up Jacaranda 94.2’s corporate challenge, which is a fun initiative for companies to get involved with Winter Warmer. Thanks to the generosity of all the staff TEPG contributed and 70 blankets to this worthy cause. Well done to TEPG for supporting this fantastic initiative and for bringing warmth to those so desperately in need this chilly winter...full story

 

 

See some of Club Travel's current deals below. To find more of these, go to:

www.clubtravel.co.za

 

4* Andaman Cannacia Resort
Phuket

 


 

Departs Johannesburg: R9960
Departs Cape Town: R12320
Departs Durban: R11820
Includes:
* Return flights to Phuket
* Pre-payable airport/security taxes
* Return airport/hotel transfers
* 7 nights accommodation at the 4* Andaman Cannacia Resort
* Breakfast daily

Validity:
01 SEP 2011 - 31 OCT 2011.


Ladies week in Buenos Aires
Argentina


Departs Johannesburg: R13100
Departs Cape Town: R13865
Departs Durban: R14895
Includes:
* Return flight to Buenos Aires
* Pre-payable airport/security taxes
* Return transfers
* 7 nights accommodation at the 3* Carsson Hotel
* Breakfast daily
* Half day city tour, visiting Evita Museum, the National Library & more
* Half day upmarket hairdresser salon pampering
* Half day spa package, including a body massage, hair cream mask, cream pack facial & circuit heat bath
* Assistance from an English speaking guide
* Tango lesson at Mansion Dandi Royal
* Dinner & show at Sabor a Tango

Validity:
30 AUG 2011 - 18 NOV 2011.

Madame Zingara & 5* African Pride Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa
Cape Town


Departs Johannesburg: R4340
Departs Cape Town: R2590
Departs Durban: R4340
Includes:
* Return flights to Cape Town
* Pre-payable airport/security taxes
* 2 days car hire
* 2 nights accommodation at the 5* African Pride Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa
* Breakfast daily
* Return transfers from the hotel to the show
* Dinner & show at Madame Zingara

Added Value:
* A Canal Walk shopping card booklet
* A sushi making lesson at the Deli
* A 20% discount off your entire meal at any Cape Town Fish Market Restaurant

Validity:
01 SEP 2011 - 30 DEC 2011.

 
 

 

Contents

Main

CEO's message
Editor's note

TTG appoints Managing Director of Retail Division

The impact of E-Tolling on First Car
TEPG shaking up the scene in Durban and Nigeria

Cape Point welcomes back the locals 
 

Group Highlights

Marilyn Lewis elected to the board of TBCSA

The Wild Club conference
A warm winter with TEPG

 

CEO's Message

 

The Tourism Business Council of South Africa’s (TBCSA) 3rd Quarter Tourism Business Index has caused a lot of speculation of where the tourism industry in South Africa is headed. The third quarter report indicates that the industry performed worse than expected as a direct result of changing travel patterns; a drop in inbound arrivals as well as lower domestic leisure travel.

 

A recent accommodation report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers, South Africa has an enormous oversupply of hotel rooms created for the world cup; the report states that this oversupply will


 

be exacerbated by an anticipated 7.1% increase to the room stock this year. This has led to sobering developments in the hospitality sector including the withdrawal of African Sun from South Africa and the closure of the Alphen Hotel in Constantia.


The negative state of affairs in the industry is further compounded by the global economic situation with America having had its AAA debt rating cut and European countries introducing further austerity measures. These realities, together with a stronger Rand have led to changes in tourist spending patterns and are acting as strong catalysts for change in the industry. The tourism industry is forced to turn to alternative markets, as focusing solely on South Africa’s traditional inbound markets will sink the industry to unprecedented lows.


South African Tourism (SAT) plays a critical role in exposing South Africa to these alternative markets. The “20 experiences in 10 days” marketing campaign is gaining momentum. It is currently being flighted on BBC World and on CNN International but will also be launching on National Geographic soon. Four couples from Germany, Brazil, China, and Angola were chosen to participate in the campaign. Their visit to South Africa and their experiences form the core of the campaign which has been launched in German, Portuguese and Mandarin and is expected to reach over 1 Billion people a month worldwide.


According to the World Tourism Organisation the bedrock of most tourism economies is domestic, regional and intercontinental tourism. It is in light of this, that I view the latest swing in the focus of the local industry players to the broader African continent with excitement. Airlines such as SAA and Airlink are expanding their networks further into Africa and hotel groups such as Protea Hotels are increasing their footprint in Nigeria and Ghana.


In light of all this, my message to the Thebe Tourism Group is simple, adapt to the changing environment and your survival and ultimate success is inevitable. Adapt, innovate and lead.


I want to leave you with the words of John Wooden, famous and revered UCLA basketball coach, “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.” 

 

Marilyn Lewis
Interim CEO, Thebe Tourism Group
 

Editor's Note

 

This months’ bulletin is filled with interesting reads, feel-good stories and news on positive developments in our group. We introduce the MD of the newly created TTG Retail Division and the new board members of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA). The TTG Bulletin chats to the Club Travel “Exceptional Employee of the Year” in our Employee profile and gives you a peak at what happened at this year’s Club Travel Conference in “the Wild Club Conference”.


First Car Rental discusses a matter close to the heart of many living in Gauteng, the Gauteng Toll Roads’ E tolling system.


Good news comes in the form of TEPG developments in “TEPG shaking up the scene...” and “Cape Point welcomes back the locals” and then there’s a feel-good story about blankets for a warmer winter.


The bulletin ends on a good note thanks to Club Travel’s monthly specials and please don’t forget to vote for Table Mountain (see the banner at the bottom of our bulletin for more information).
Until next month!
 

Hapiloe Sello
 Group GM: Marketing, Thebe Tourism Group
 

TTG appoints Managing Director of Retail Division

 

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Makhosi Kubheka as the Managing Director of Thebe Tourism Retail Division, a newly created division which consolidates all of Thebe Tourism retail investments and interests.


In her new role Makhosi will oversee the day to day management and turnaround of Thebe Tourism Group Retail (TTGR) a wholly owned subsidiary of Thebe Tourism Group and the overall growth of Thebe Tourism’s entire retail portfolio.

 

This will see her playing a strategic business development role in Batsumi, a joint venture with Cape Union Mart and Kamnandi a partnership with Rowmoor - Rowmoor is the licensee of Accesorize and La Senza in South Africa.


Makhosi joins us from Creditworx, a subsidiary of Thebe Investment Corporation (TIC) where she served as Sales and Marketing Executive for the past four and a half years. During her tenure at Creditworx she grew sales by 42% and grew the client base by 24%. Awarded the Thebe Excellence Award for the Best Executive category in the Thebe Group for 2010, Makhosi has held a number of senior sales and marketing roles in various companies including Telkom, IBM, Microsoft, Edcon and Nedbank.


She holds a B.Com Degree, a B.Com Honours, a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Wits University and a diploma from the Institute for Marketing Management (IMM)...full story

 

The impact of E-Tolling on First Car

 

The controversial new tolling system that is due to be implemented in Gauteng has been highly criticised. According to the South African National Roads Agency Ltd (SANRAL) the new Gauteng tolling system will benefit road users as it will ensure a high quality road network and improve road safety but Melissa Storey, Executive Head: Strategy, Development & Marketing at First Car Rental raises her concerns in the following Q&A:

Which date will E-Tolling be live?
There are various rumours surrounding this subject, but there is no definite date as yet – speculation currently suggests October 2011... but we cannot ignore the gigantic gantries that have been erected on Gauteng's major highways.
 

 

What impact do you expect the new E-Tolling system will have on car rental companies? What challenges does this sector face?
Apart from the time and resources spent on the technical preparation for this project, there will be a huge cost implication to our existing business the moment the SANRAL project goes live.


Not only does it affect our customer's pocket and perception of car rental costs when collecting a vehicle from OR Tambo, but there are mandatory vehicle movements between ORTIA and our depot to ensure that our customers receive a clean and fuel-filled vehicle - so a newly built gantry between the Airport off-ramp and Voortrekker Road ensures that we incur a cost each and every time a car leaves from or to the airport.


Taking the only available side-road will put immense pressure on this secondary road, and most probably incur a similar cost to that of a toll fee when fuel, wear and tear is taken into consideration - what is worse is that the majority of the car rental companies are faced with this problem.


The industry will also most probably refrain from most delivery or collection rental products, as it will become unaffordable for our industry and therefore our consumers.

How will car rental companies collect these fees from their customers?
We have a seamless electronic process that will match the toll fee incurred for a specific fleet vehicle at a specific date and time to the relevant vehicle movement within our operating system.


There are various pre-determined vehicle movement types within our operating system, one of the movement types relate to a vehicle being out on rent.
Should a "toll fee date and time stamp" relate to a rental, then we will automatically bill the customer irrespective of market sector or method of payment...full story

 

  

TEPG shaking up the scene in Durban and Nigeria

 

 

 

Thebe Exhibitions and Projects Group (TEPG)has recently been contracted to handle the commercial management of the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, on behalf of BKS, the operator for the completed stadium and lead consultant during the design and build of the stadium.

The FIFA World Cup in 2010 exposed South Africa as a country brimming with opportunity and capable of staging events of the calibre seen in the First World.

 

During the World Cup the Moses Mabhida Stadium played host to some of the most exciting matches of the tournament and the capacity and capability of the venue was shown to its full potential. TEPG believes that it is time to capitalise on the window of opportunity provided by the success of this event and to continue to build on the growth already seen in the sports tourism sector. This spectacular facility, which is just a stone’s throw from the Durban beach front, offers unlimited possibilities for the staging of major concerts, sporting events, conferences as well as exhibitions.

 

TEPG is already in the process of securing some fantastic line-ups and has appointed Grant Medcalf, the General Manager of the Coca-Cola Dome, as the new commercial manager of the Stadium. His relocation to Durban has led to Cynthia Penprase being appointed acting General Manager of the Dome. With the world class sports facilities, skycar, restaurants, shops and corporate suites the Moses Mabhida Stadium offers something for everyone. The World Cup was just the start of what promises to be a busy and action packed future for the Stadium...full story

  
   

Cape Point welcomes back the locals

 

The Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) is unique in the fact that at 25 000 hectares, it is entirely located within the metropolitan area of Cape Town. The park encompasses the scenic Table Mountain Chain stretching from Signal Hill and Table Mountain in the north to Boulders Penguin Colony and Cape Point in the south.

The irony is that many Capetonians simply cannot afford to visit the park that is practically at their doorstep, because of the cost of entry. This is particularly true at Cape Point, where Thebe holds a concession, together with Concor in the form of the Cape Point Partnership (CPP).

 

The cost of entry at Cape Point for both international and local visitors is currently R80 per adult, which makes the park unaffordable for the majority of residents. With international travel down, this remains a key challenge for the Cape Point Partnership.

A solution for this problem comes in the form of the newly launched My Green Card. This new TMNP discounted access card offers 12 entries at a cost of only R80. The saving is obvious when one compares it with the cost of an adult entry at Cape Point. The My Green Card will also be easy to obtain. Until the end of August, the cards will be available only at TMNP offices but from September will be obtainable from any of the Cape Town Tourism Visitor Information Centres.

According to Brett Hendricks, TTG CFO and CPP Board Member, the My Green Card complements the partnership’s domestic strategy, “The Cape Point Partnership supports the card and has been waiting in anticipation for its launch. We will be creating awareness of the card through our various marketing activities and with the combined efforts of TMNP, it is expected that there will be a substantial increase in local visitor numbers.” The partnership developed and manages the visitor centre at Cape Point, including the Flying Dutchman Funicular, the Two Oceans Restaurant and three retail stores...full story

 

  

© 2012 Thebe Tourism Group | Tel: +27 (0)21 551 0288 | www.thebetourism.co.za