The Lookout view point in Plett.
By “implementing the basics” Plett Tourism has dramatically turned around the town’s tourism industry in just three years.
“It doesn’t sound very exciting, but by sticking to the basics the team has managed to make a difference,” Plett Tourism chairperson Peter Wallington said this week.
And these basics include having a clear strategy, making the best of a limited budget, having a stable board, establishing good relationships especially with the local municipality and drawing in the right people with the necessary skills to grow the brand.
This has paid massive dividends over the past three years. Despite national growth of only about 1% a year, Plett’s tourism sector has seen a year-on-year growth rate of between 10% and 40%.
Plett’s visibility has also grown tremendously with 2 600 fans on Instagram by last year and 5 000 #plettitsafeeling posts. Fans on Facebook are also up 357% from 2 000 in 2013 to 7 150 in 2016. Twitter saw massive growth in terms of followers, 773%, from 420 three years ago to 3 250 this year. Plett Tourism’s YouTube channel has also seen growth with up to 13 113 views and subscriber growth from zero in 2013 to 35 this year.
Plett Tourism’s website has also enjoyed major growth. During the 2013/14 financial year the site had 71 655 visits. This year it has climbed to 165 308 visits. The town also enjoyed about R20-million in media coverage over the past year.
Wallington said that when the current tourism body took the reins in 2013, branding was very poor and that was why the first part of their strategy was to establish a brand: Plett It’s a Feeling. “Once you know exactly ‘who’ you are then the tourism products fall in place relatively effortlessly.”
Until recently Plett has been largely dependent on a bumper summer season, but thanks to these products, the “Plett It’s a Feeling” has gone beyond a single season.
These include visitor experiences like the Plett Winelands initiative, the Plett Trials, the Plett Birding Route and other festivals and events like the Plett Arts Festival and Plett Wine & Bubbly Festival. The latter has also shown massive growth from 500 visitors in the first year to a thousand the next and 1 500 last year.
“Our aim right from the start was to do the work and then let the work speak for itself.”
Wallington said having the right people with the right skills on board also had a major impact on the body’s success. “Our office structure is a bit of hybrid one. We have four permanent employees who each have specific jobs. We don’t believe in being a Jack-of-all-trades, but rather doing one thing really well. The rest of the team consists of consultants with specific skill sets.”
Plett Tourism is a registered NPO with a service level agreement with the Bitou municipality. About 80% of its budget – about R3.5-million – is funded by the municipality while the remainder comes from hosting sponsored events. “We hope to grow this in the future to add to the budget.”
