Become a member of the Saldanha Bay Tourism Organisation |
<< go back to news |
WELCOME BY MARKETING MANAGER: LORIKA MALAN
Thank you for making the decision to join the Saldanha Bay Tourism Organisation. We are truly blessed to live in a beautiful place such as the West Coast. Just an hour’s drive out of the hustle and bustle of the City of Cape Town, lies the absolute beauty of our natural heritage, a place of tranquillity, the unique West Coast culture with so much diversity and brand new adventures just waiting to be explored!
As the Marketing Organisation of our valued Members in the Tourism Industry, we are just different pieces of exactly the same puzzle. By working together and marketing the unique people and place experience of the West Coast, we can really make a positive impact on Tourism on the West Coast. As individual businesses and organisations, we are just small fish in a very big pond, but together we can change the face of Tourism in our area forever.
With one of the Natural Wonders of the World just 120km away and Cape Town being the 2013 Travel + Leisure Magazines 4th Best Destination of the year, we are sitting on the brink of so much possibility. If we work together to market the West Coast Experience and our region as a destination, the future of Tourism on the West Coast looks pretty amazing!
Your continual contribution to our Organisation makes it possible for us to do what we love and that is to show the rest of the world why we choose to live in this beautiful part of our Country. It is not only your financial contribution but also your input as members that have made the Saldanha Bay Tourism Organisation grow in leaps and bounds.
Let’s make 2014 the best year ever, together!
WELCOME TO THE SALDANHA BAY TOURISM ORGANISATION:
Saldanha Bay Tourism Organisation is the official Tourism body of the Saldanha Bay Municipal area. (Langebaan, Saldanha, Jacobsbaai, Vredenburg, Paternoster, St Helena Bay, Hopefield). With dedicated tourism offices in 6 of the 7 towns that we cover, we are here to offer an extensive marketing service to you as the member of our organisation.
Our main focus is to bring more domestic and international travellers to our shores which mean more money being invested into our region, more jobs for locals and constant growth possibilities for your business. Each individual office is responsible for the marketing of their towns and the members in those towns. It is therefore extremely important for us as an Organisation that you make regular contact with your local Tourism Office, build a relationship with your Tourism Official and regularly update us with information regarding your business.
As an Organisation we strive to bring together the uniqueness of each town and market the diversity and experience of the West Coast to potential visitors. In order to properly market the experience of the area, we need to know about what goes on in our area but most importantly, we need to have as many people in the Industry on board to ensure that we are indeed representative of the tourism industry when we talk to Local Municipality, District Municipality and the Western Cape Provincial Government.
TEAM SBTO:
The Saldanha Bay Tourism Organisation consist of 6 Tourism Officials, an Operations Manager, Marketing Manager and a Tourism Manager. As an organisation we report to our members, the Saldanha Bay Municipality and an Executive Committee consisting of a Chairman, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Marketing Chair as well as a Development Chair.
As a team, we strive to always Exceed Expectations and we live and breathe Tourism. Our love for the West Coast is what drives our passion.
WEST COAST PENINSULA TOURISM MEMBERSHIP PROGRAMME:
VISION:
To create a unique people and place experience for visitors of our area.
MISSION:
To establish a Sustainable, Unified, Inclusive, Accredited and Recognised Local Tourism Organisation that:
- Is committed to developing new tourism products, markets and service providers,
- Supports and develops existing infrastructure and products,
- Is working jointly with Government and the Private Sector with the active participation of the Local Community.
WHY BECOME A MEMBER?
Because together we can achieve so much more!
As the owner of a tourism related business you are trying to maximize your turnover while ensuring that your business operates as efficiently as possible. By becoming a member of the SBTO, we can better market our area and encourage visitors to stay longer and spend more while they are here, especially in the out of season periods. Through hosting Events and promoting the various Activities and Attractions we have to offer, we can bring additional tourists to our area.
Our membership programme works on the basis of partnership and is aimed at all businesses, large and small. It provides a range of benefits designed to present opportunities and support for your business. Membership is available to all sectors of tourism and related service industries as well as business at large.
If you are located outside of our area, you may join the SBTO as an affiliated member to gain access to the many benefits of membership and promotion through the SBTO’s channels. You should be a member of your primary local tourism office. If you are not, please speak to us about your other options.
The membership programme generates a small but valuable percentage of our funding and we encourage members to actively engage with us to maximise the return on their contribution to visitor services.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:
- To enhance the National and International image of the West Coast as a destination with a unique people and place experience to visit, work and invest in
- To increase tourism volumes and yield for the economy of the Saldanha Bay Municipal area and our members in a sustainable and responsible manner
- To establish good levels of tourism business all year round
- To optimise tourism benefits within the region as well as on a greater regional level
- To identify development opportunities in our area as an asset to the whole community and to constantly renew the tourism experience in order to be aligned with changing requirements.
- To engage our members and residents as proud ambassadors of our area
- To work closely with our partner organisations to develop the West Coast as a safe, attractive and welcoming destination
- To create a preferred service provider programme for members
POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION:
To ensure the effective implementation of policy and the efficient functioning of tourism offices and bodies in the region.
COMMITMENT TO MEMBERS:
- We will treat you with honesty, respect and dignity in all our interactions.
- We will promote your product and provide you with a fair share of exposure.
- We will work with you to turn your tourism ambitions into a reality.
- We will encourage you to adopt and operate in accordance with ethical and responsible tourism principles.
- We are committed to promoting all products equally and we encourage you to maximise your membership by proactively working with us.
MEMBERSHIP PROGRAMME:
As member of the SBTO you will receive a membership certificate every year as well as a Loyalty Certificate for every 5 years uninterrupted membership to the organisation. Our membership programme works on the basis of partnership and is aimed at all businesses, large and small. It provides a wide range of benefits that are designed to produce tangible results for your business.
We have an open communication channel with our members and we encourage your comments, compliments and constructive criticism at all times in order to offer a competitive product that is growing with the region.
Membership fees are only for one calendar year and payable annually by no later than 31 January. Should you not wish to renew your membership, your membership benefits will be deactivated until membership fees are paid in full. The late payment of membership fees will exclude you from the Travel Mosaic as the printing commences from February.
THE MEMBER GET MEMBER INITIATIVE:
We are introducing the member get member initiative as from January 2014. With this initiative, we encourage existing members to assist us with the recruitment of as many new members as you can during a calendar year from January - December. Who better to talk about joining the SBTO membership than you, our existing valued members.
The correct procedure to follow will be as follows:
a) The existing member either sends an email with the referred new member’s detail or preferably brings the new member into the tourism office to introduce the new member. This way the SBTO has proper paperwork to best manage the existing member’s discount throughout the year.
b) The discount will be calculated per calendar year from January – December each year. For each member that an existing member refers during the calendar year, the existing member will receive 10% discount of the new member’s total yearly subscription, off their own yearly membership fee. These discounts will then be deducted off the existing member’s annual membership renewal fee for the following book year.
SUPPORT TO LTA’s:
Various Local Tourism Associations assist us in our efforts to promote the individual towns and these LTA’s work closely with the SBTO. LTA’s are vitally important in identifying new and existing development opportunities and needs in each town as they consist of pro active residents of the representative towns. We offer ongoing support, guidance, input and advice to the established LTAs in our region and contribute financially by allocating funds for specifically identified local marketing and development initiatives when funds permit. We are in communication with the LTAs on an ongoing basis and attend their scheduled meetings.
DIRECT BENEFITS TO YOU, THE MEMBER:
1. MARKETING:
The Marketing of our members is the most basic benefit of being a member of the SBTO.
- We have 6 dedicated Tourism Offices open to the public, visitors and businesses for information about the area. You as a member are welcome to bring promotional material such as brochures, menus, specials etc for display at any or all of our 6 offices.
- We can assist with direct bookings at the Tourism Offices
2. SBTO WEBSITE:
Our dedicated website: capewestcoastpeninsula.co.za has a listing for each of our members. Upon payment of your membership, you will receive a username and password and you are encouraged to update your information regularly and change display pictures of your establishment as frequently as you wish. The more regularly we update our website, the better we rank on search engines.
Under events and news, we further promote your business on our official website. It is therefore important to keep sending us the relevant information, news and press releases for promotion.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE OPPORTUNITIES:
The SBTO believes in the importance of online marketing and have put a Social Media Policy in place. This is backed up by a Social Media Strategy to best promote both members and our region on the right platforms to the right people. Online marketing is constantly evolving and we as an organisation attends electronic marketing workshops to best guide our members with trends and marketing tools. The Social Media Platforms are exclusively for advertising of our members and region related information. Please make use of it as much as possible. If you are unsure of the benefits of social media, please talk to us and we will gladly assist you with online support and basic training.
The SBTO has various Facebook platforms that consist of both pages and groups. We have decided to use both as there are certain benefits for using groups and other benefits for using pages. These are all open platforms and we encourage members to make use of these platforms and link their social media platforms on to ours. It is a wonderful way of free advertising of your products and services.
SBTO SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS:
The region: Visit the West Coast, West Coast Tourism, Experience the West Coast
Langebaan: Visit Langebaan, Langebaan, Langebaan Tourism
Saldanha: Visit Saldanha, Saldanha
Jacobsbaai: Visit Jakobsbaai, Jacobsbaai, Jacobsbaai Tourism
Paternoster: Visit Paternoster, Paternoster, Paternoster Tourism
St Helenabaai: Visit St Helena Bay, St Helena Bay, St Helena Bay Tourism
Hopefield: Visit Hopefield
Vredenburg: Visit Vredenburg, Vredenburg
Pages for the festivals: Paternoster Seafood Festival, Langebaan Lagoon Celebration, St Helenabaai Seefees
We are also on Twitter: @WestCoastSA
4. EXPOSURE ON TELEVISION:
The SBTO is actively involved in marketing our area to various television crews by putting together planned itineraries to best showcase our area. Some of these television crews arrive on very short notice and we go the extra mile to best assist them. Various television programs have also been shot in our region where we always make sure they showcase as much of the towns they are shooting in.
5. EVENTS:
The SBTO encourages and supports local Events as a way to increase visitor numbers and bring repeated visitors back to our area. By hosting events we not only increase business opportunities, especially in off season times but also empower local Communities and Local Tourism Associations in putting together and hosting events. The SBTO offers event support to ensure that these festivals are run in accordance with local legislation. We further more assists in the sourcing of funding and were possible co-funding of events if and where necessary.
6. CONFERENCES/TRADE SHOWS/EXHIBITIONS:
The SBTO is representing all members at paid Trade Shows such as Indaba, one of the largest tourism exhibitions on the continent, Beeld Show, The Outdoor Show, Getaway Show, & Namibia Expo. This is at no extra cost to members.
Prizes won during 2013 shows:
1st Place: Getaway Outdoor show, Lourensford Stellenbosch (Best Destination 2013: Tourism Boards, District Municipalities and Overseas destinations)
Gold Award: Indaba 2013, Durban ICC (Award Aesthetics, Brand presence, Innovation, Design, Sustainability, Energy and Interaction)
Silver Award: Cape Outdoor Show, Sandringham Farm (Stand design, Presentation and Interaction)
7. COLLABORATIVE MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES:
Joint Advertising possibilities are negotiated with certain publications if we feel that it could add value to our members and our region. SBTO always try to arrange reduce rates for our members.
8. MEDIA & ADVERTISING:
Regular radio interviews on travel programs are ongoing. The SBTO has a weekly radio slot on Radio Namakwaland to market our region. Whenever radio stations such as KFM or HeartFM embark on road shows, we as an organisation assist with possible interviews and information about the area.
Regular press releases are sent to radio stations and media contacts about what happens in our area.
Local Generic Brochure production for each town as well as the region and exposure through generic Advertising in selected Tourism Publications at no extra charge to you.
Identifying advertising opportunities for members through our media contacts
9. PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL:
Town merchandise and promotional material such as banners are made available to Local Tourism Associations to assist with visible marketing efforts.
10. NETWORKING & MARKETING CAMPAIGNS:
- Member Networking Meetings
- Membership days
- Through LTAs
- Tourism Days
- PR & Educationals with Tour Operators
- Exchange programs with other Tourism Offices
- Staff Educationals
- Welcome the Visitor
11. BOOKINGS:
- ON SBTO WEBSITE:
Although this is not our primary focus, we can assist you with online bookings through our website for members who are registered with Nightsbridge. Nightsbridge also expanded to Activity Bridge which we will be adding to our benefits very soon.
- OFFICE REFERALS:
As a Tourism Organisation, we are in contact with other tourism offices on a regular basis for training, workshops etc and therefore have a good relationship with other areas. Part of the reason why we do various interactions is the long term business relationships that are formed. We do referrals from other tourism offices in our area as well as outside of our region.
12. COMMUNITY PROJECTS:
The SBTO is largely involved with Local Community projects as part of giving back. By promoting a positive attitude towards Tourism in schools, we believe we are making a difference where it is needed the most.
Some of these community initiatives includes P.L.A.Y, Beauton Paulse – Sharks Academy, Heritage Day, KFM day, Veggies without borders Golf day, Saldanha Cultural Village, HOW Wildlife Rescue, Beach Clean- ups, Hannes Vermeulen – Saw Convention New York, SAPS awards, Heart FM and various others.
Involvement with the youth at local schools:
- Assistance with school projects
- Guidance of Tourism Students
- Competitions with local schools
- Setting up of a library in Saldanha
13. SERVICE EXCELLENCE:
- Handling of Complaints
- Advice
- Training to promote service levels
- Grading & Accreditation
- Registration and licensing
14. DEVELOPMENT:
- Increased attraction for area
- Business Opportunities
15. ADDITIONAL MARKETING INITIATIVES:
- Possibility of road signage for your establishment
- Cape West Coast Peninsula Welcome Brochure published by SBTO
- Cape West Coast Brochure (Mosaic) published by the Regional Tourism Organisation Individual Town Brochures (in collaboration with LTAs)
- The SBTO is working closely with Saldanha Bay Municipality and offers valuable input in terms of local development and especially with the identification of possible new projects and existing projects that are in need of attention.
- Locally through Saldanha Bay Municipality and Entrepreneurs and Community Development Organisations and Individuals
- Regional through RTO
- Provincial with West Coast Provincial Government and Department of Environmental Development and Tourism
- National with National Department of Tourism
- Infrastructure
- Products
- People
16. SPEAKING TO INDUSTRY ON YOUR BEHALF:
As the SBTO we are linked with various industry related organisations such as Wesgro, Cape Town Tourism and SA Tourism. We are working closely together with the Regional Tourism Association, Local Municipality, Provincial and National Government and have a Service Level Agreements in place with the Local Municipality as well as Memorandum of Understanding with Cape Town Tourism through the Regional Tourism Organisation. We are attending meetings on behalf of members on various Industry levels , including Weskus Sakekamer, Parks Forum, Ward Committees, Municipal Forums, and the IDZ to name but a few.
RELATIONSHIP WITH SALDANHA BAY MUNICIPALITY
Continued support of Tourism Industry
Tourism represented on Ward Committees
Municipal representation for Tourism Issues
RELATIONSHIP WITH WEST COAST REGIONAL TOURISM ORGANISATION AND WCDM
Continued Support of Tourism Industry
District Municipality representation for Tourism Issues
Partnership for trade shows and exhibitions
West Coast Marketing Collateral
West Coast Development Initiatives
RELATIONSHIP WITH CAPE TOWN TOURISM
Discounted Membership
Joint Marketing
Member Days
PR
Events
RELATIONSHIP WITH WCPG DEDAT
Continued Support of Tourism Industry
Provincial representation for Tourism Issues
Western Cape Development Initiatives
RELATIONSHIP WITH WESGRO
Continued Support of Tourism Industry
Provincial representation for Tourism Marketing Issues
Partnership for trade shows and exhibitions
Western Cape Marketing Collateral
RELATIONSHIP WITH NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM
Continued Support of Tourism Industry
National representation for Tourism Issues
Tourism Management
Funding
Tourism Grading Council
National Marketing Collateral
Area represented at International trade shows and exhibitions
National Development Initiatives
17. OTHER BENEFITS:
- A Dedicated Flower Line operated for the complete duration of the flower season manned by staff
- Promoting a unique West Coast Whale Watching route with a dedicated whale watching hotline
- Reduced Membership fees in other Tourism Organisations
- Speaking to tour operators on behalf of the region
- Opportunities to promote your product within the context of the West Coast as a tourism destination of choice.
- Quality assurance regarding Grading and Complaints
- Coordinate internships
- Education (Tourism Awareness Program, School Programs)
- Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives
- The SBTO has contracted the skills of a professional photographer, Cricket Carstens from Kyni Photography who is available to take pictures of the area for promotional advertising as well as member establishments at a greatly reduced rate.
- Free training options where ever possible – SA Host training and industry related workshops
- Research and statistics in order to be informed about the ever-changing tourism markets and global trends
18. CONNECTING WITH MEMBERS:
- Linking you with other members and promoting a referral system between members
- Networking sessions and Membership days are held 3 – 4 times a year. These platforms give members and the SBTO a chance to get together and share ideas as well and talk about the latest tourism trends and initiatives of the SBTO
19. COMMUNICATION THROUGH:
- Monthly newsletters – to reduce email correspondence where ever possible
- News flashes – to convey urgent messages
- Email correspondence through Tourism Officials whenever important information needs to be conveyed.
To become a member, contact 022 772 1515 or email membership@sbto.co.za
|
|
|
 |
||
|
