Marking the culmination of a shared marketing agreement between Cape Town and New York City, Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism and Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, including Tourism, visited Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) to oversee a campaign installation promoting a partnership between Cape Town and New York City.
The co-marketing agreement between the two global tourism giants is spearheaded by their respective destination marketing organisations, Cape Town Tourism and NYC & Company. The agreement has seen the organisations pool their resources to market each other. In New York, Cape Town’s many attractions have appeared on bus shelters and kiosks across New York’s five boroughs, introducing US locals to what the Mother City has to offer.
Similarly, Cape Town Tourism has highlighted the Big Apple to Capetonians and visitors to Cape Town audiences through its mobile Information Centres, branding on 20 MyCiti busses, various billboards in the Cape Town CBD, and extensive branding at the International Arrivals area at CTIA.
The partnership received an extra boost by the recent announcement of a direct flight between Cape Town and New York that will begin later this year.
“When we began discussions about this partnership three years ago, our objective was to increase the demand for travel between our cities with the ultimate goal of a direct flight between Cape Town and New York City. We would like to acknowledge and thank Alderman Vos and Deon Cloete for their support in getting New York branding on MyCiti Buses, billboards and at Cape Town International Airport, as part of the media exchange program,” Duminy said.
“In addition to marketing Cape Town as a tourism destination to the millions of New Yorkers and the millions more who visit the Big Apple, the partnership between Cape Town Tourism & NYC Company has been integral to providing much-welcomed access to the North American market. The route will assist in attracting foreign direct investment into Cape Town. What cannot be downplayed is that this will be a catalyst for economic growth in the city,” Vos added. “We are gearing up for an additional 24 000 inbound passengers expected from the new direct route from New York, and this will grow travellers from the United States by 20%. United Air will service the new non-stop route between Cape Town and North America. During First year impact alone is estimated to create 900 jobs. Which will also contribute to an R421 million boost in tourism spend by 2021.”
During the visit, Deon Cloete, Cape Town International Airport’s General Manager, also briefed Vos and Duminy on the progress of the R7-billion upgrades being made to CTIA. Part of that upgrade includes developing the airport to take on new direct international flights connecting Africa to the world. Once completed, the new CTIA runway will have the capacity to handle 45 flights per hour.
“We are committed to delivering a quality service and ensuring that the passenger experience at the airport is always hassle-free. We recognise that we are a part of an award-winning value chain within the city and that we play a very serious role as a key touch point in Cape Town,” Cloete said.
Shaving four hours off current travel times, the first direct flight from New York is scheduled to arrive in Cape Town on 16 December, with three flights planned weekly over the tourism high season in Cape Town.
“The launch of this route by United Airlines is proof of the importance of this partnership between Cape Town Tourism and NYC & Company. Later this month we will be hosting a delegation from New York as we extend the partnership for another two years. With the aims of the initial partnership achieved, we look forward to announcing what we look to achieve during the next phase of this partnership,” Duminy said.
