Tourism industry aims to rebrand Pretoria as ‘adventure zone’
Tourism role players are excited about the opportunity to rebrand Pretoria as the wildest capital on earth.
The Tshwane metro will gladly endorse the new branding of the Tshwane Tourism Association to promote Pretoria as the “wildest capital on earth”.
Mayor Cilliers Brink gave this promise to the management and members of the Tshwane Tourism Association at the opening of the annual exhibition of businesses and tourism destinations at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on January 23.
“Although a so-called wild capital, we will need to have a few things in place and one of those is security,” said Brink.
He also assured the management he would take up the matter of the signing of an agreement between the metro and the association.
The chairperson of the association, Nico Rowan, said it was a dream come true to welcome the mayor for the welcoming speech.
He thanked him for his commitment to the signing of the agreement.
“With all the instability in the metro, the signing of the agreement seemed to have lagged,” said Rowan.
He indicated that the new focus on adventure tourism, the rebranding and better cooperation with the metro, can give momentum to industry players.
“We want to make tourism in Pretoria sexy again,” said Rowan.
Vice-chairperson of the association, Susan Marais, explained that the new focus on Pretoria as an adventure zone destination may include experiences like sleepovers at the museums and zoo, a visit to the city’s nature reserves and game lodges, skydiving and a zipline visit.
“If we focus on adventure, we can get quite a few wild experiences together for tourists,” said Marais.
One of the accommodation exhibitors, Farana Moosa, general manager of Southern Sun Pretoria, said the association’s exhibition allows exhibitors to network and establish a way of working together in future.
“Opportunities abound to synchronise experiences for tourists and to get more feet into our hotels and other establishments,” remarked Moosa.
Jaco Robbertse of Ulysses Tours and Safaris said tourism in Pretoria is picking up.
“Last year was a good year for our company. We had to buy new buses and appoint new personnel,” explained Robbertse.
One of the trends that tourists coming to Pretoria are following, is to visit tasting rooms.
Marieke Richards of The Capital Distillers said visitor figures to their tasting room in Silverton have grown substantially.
“After the lockdown rules about alcohol were lifted, we saw a slow, and then faster surge, to taste our unique three locally manufactured gin products in our tasting room,” said Richards.
Pretoria’s central tourism is also picking up, according to Lebo Die of the Inani Morning Star Hotel in Visagie Street.
“We need to change the narrative about the central part of town to get local feet back on city streets. This will make the inner city safer. We have, however, had more and more international tourists,” emphasised Die.
The opportunity is there to take over from Johannesburg as a leading tourism destination, said Jacquie Pastor from Bill Harrop’s Original Balloon Safaris.
“Johannesburg is not seen anymore as safe or friendly, and tourists are sick of Johannesburg. This is Pretoria’s opportunity to maximise that and get those tourists to visit the capital and surrounds.”
She also feels that the uniqueness of Pretoria’s landscape should be used when referring to adventure tourism.
“Where we take to the air in the Magalies mountain range with our hot air balloons, we sail on the wind over the second oldest range of mountains in the world. Now that is a real selling point.”
Click here to see Mayor Cilliers Brink join in at a drumming circle at the Tshwane Tourist Association’s annual exhibition.
@rekordpretoria Tourism industry aims to rebrand Pretoria as ‘adventure zone’ | Tourism role players are excited about the opportunity to rebrand Pretoria as the wildest capital on earth. The mayor, Cilliers Brink, participated in a drumming circle led by Piet Aarde at a recent tourism exhibition. Read more online
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