The first-ever interactive travel experience hosted by Cape Town Tourism’s Find Your Freedom global marketing campaign was a resounding success, generating R147 million in direct and indirect spending and creating about 755 new employment opportunities.
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Leigh Dawber, chief marketing officer at Cape Town Tourism, says the goal was to utilise a choice-driven experience to aggressively drive tourism to the City. ‘The results of our Find Your Freedom experience far exceeded what we ever expected. The gamified interface resonated with millennials and brought over 5 000 international bookings through Expedia in a very short period, generating close to R50 million in direct expenditure.’
The Find Your Freedom campaign also helped increase accommodation figures from 79% in February 2019 to 85% in the same month this year. During this time, the campaign created 248 direct employment opportunities, as reported by Bizcommunity.
Dawber says it also contributed to Cape Town receiving several awards, including the ‘Destination Industry Award’ at the International 2022 X. Awards, the title of ‘Most Viral Campaign’ at the Supersonic New Generation Awards and the City being recognised at the City Nation Place Awards with the highest commendation in the category of ‘Best Communication Strategy for Tourism’ globally.
‘We needed to be innovative in our approach to grab the interest of those wanting to travel. Find Your Freedom has proven to be our most important, most immersive and most successful travel experience to date. But what added to this success was our brand collaborations and smart partnerships. By collaborating with TikTok, Expedia and exciting GoPro content creators, we managed to transform the way the Mother City is marketed and showed how innovative partnerships can help revive a tourism industry that was rocked by the pandemic. With a focus on providing unique experiences for travellers and bolstering the local economy, Cape Town can continue to thrive as a leading global destination.’
Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth Alderman James Vos, says the goal was to fuel a fast recovery in the tourism sector. ‘Following the pandemic, people worldwide were itching to explore, do more, and reclaim that sense of purpose. We wanted to encourage individuals in our key source markets to jump on a plane and come to Cape Town to find their freedom. This campaign really hit the mark not just in terms of being something original and fun, but most importantly, being enticing enough, to result in actual bookings.’
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