Newsletter | March 2023

SCTIE NEWSLETTER | March 2023

KEEPING YOU UP-TO-DATE ON THE SOUTH COAST

Phelisa Mangcu

CEO of South Coast
Tourism & Investment Enterprise (SCTIE)

It is with great enthusiasm, and much gratitude to our local residents and businesses, that we celebrated 97% occupancy rates for the Ugu District during the 2022 festive season’s peak week – we were the top-performing region in KZN. I am sure you will agree that this is a well-deserved jump in visitor numbers, and a welcome boost to our tourism economy, following some of our most challenging years in the sector.

We understand how important it is to leverage this positive momentum by further entrenching the KZN South Coast as a prime tourism destination. There is no doubt that our beautiful bathing beaches, as well as having the highest number of Blue Flag beaches in the province, remain a strong drawcard.

While we are promoting our tourism offerings around this through innovative marketing campaigns, we are also developing and promoting our tourism offerings across a number of key areas.

“This is an exciting time for the Paradise of the Zulu Kingdom, with ground-breaking partnerships in place, our local support building, and new tourism avenues being explored. We are delighted to share these exciting updates with you in our first newsletter of 2023”.

	Mastercard MOU

	We started the year on a fantastic note with the historic signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MasterCard on 26 January. This collaboration will have far-reaching benefits for our informal traders, as well as small to medium-sized enterprises, making for more inclusivity in the informal trading sector.

Religious Tourism

KZN Biodiversity Calendar

A growing sector is religious tourism, with many people interested in visiting various mission stations around KZN, a number of which are located on the KZN South Coast. These were started by an enigmatic Austrian monk, Franz Pfanner, and a group of Trappist monks in 1880.

Sustainable tourism remains at the heart of all our operations, and we are proud to support the work being done by The Green Net on this front. This group of environmentally conscious KZN South Coast residents has launched its latest project, The KZN Biodiversity Calendar, available at a discounted cost.

MARKETING UPDATE

Marketing Campaigns

#buylocal Campaign

We launched the #buylocal campaign which celebrates and supports the entrepreneurial spirit of the KZN South Coast.

#bleisure Campaign

We’re showcasing our seaside attractions, as a valuable product for the business community as well as holidaymakers.

#extendyourstay Campaign

Considering the success of this campaign, we were excited to extend it further by encouraging visitors to stay for longer.

Media Fam Trips

Meetings Africa

We continue to build relationships with key media and gain positive exposure by hosting fam trips at our tourist locations. This is a really productive way to network in a relaxed environment while giving an exclusive, first-hand experience to influential personalities. After the experience, media were supplied with press releases, high-resolution images, and other relevant marketing collateral to maximise exposure.

From 27 February to 1 March, we will be participating in this valuable two-day trade show where we engage directly with the most influential buyers from across the globe. This will include the Business Events Trade Show, owned by South African Tourism, which enables the growth of the business events industry on the continent, which is a great opportunity for us to market our #bleisure tourism campaign.

Public Relations Update

In addition to keeping the public updated on all our dynamic marketing campaigns, we have also kept our safe bathing beaches top-of-mind. With the concern around KZN beach water quality drawing national attention, it has been of the utmost importance that holidaymakers were aware that our beaches were safe and open for bathing. Our PR team responded to all negative media exposure by contacting the journalists and ensuring that they followed up with factually correct articles about all South Coast beaches being open. Having the highest number of Blue Flag beaches in the province was also a major drawcard and something we promoted extensively through traditional and social media platforms.

There was a total of 184 coverage clippings with an advertising value equivalent (AVE) figure of R7 934 183 measured by media monitoring agency Newsclip. This includes:

	Print coverage: R4 276 468
	Broadcast coverage: R237 252
	Online media coverage: R3 420 464

Advertising Update

Our marketing campaigns have had extensive reach through targeted advertisements in key local media, across print and digital platforms. We have also promoted the destination with outdoor advertising at key locations around Durban, as well as event banner advertising. Hinterland adventure, coastal activities, and our bleisure tourism offerings were highlighted, with the regions 11 golf courses prompted as a major drawcard. Advertisements this quarter included:


	Complete Golfer Advert
	Complete Golfer Web Banner
	Getaway Advert
	Getaway Advert Web Banner
	Meetings Africa Stand
	Street Pole Adverts
	Travel Ideas Emailer
	Meetings Africa Daily Advert

Digital Media Update

Development Update

In this quarter, we have revised the annual figures for the digital assets to assess our progress and consider other innovative strategies to continue growing our audience engagement, brand awareness, promotion of tourism attractions, and investment opportunities.

We continue to support the rural sector’s inclusion in the mainstream tourism economy by developing platforms and business connections for SMMEs such as those between crafters and shop owners.

	Social Media
	Website
	Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
	Explore the KZN South Coast app
	Database

	Support to Crafters
	Business-to-Business
	Youth Development and Support
	Product Development

	Seasonal Campaign Tourism Research

	Updated research helps inform our strategies, and this quarter our focus was the Post Summer Visitor Satisfaction Survey, which included a focus on the Net Promoter Score (NPS). We are still undergoing data collection, however, we have already noted that 81.5% of respondents confirmed they would recommend the KZN South Coast, which is a high and positive satisfaction rate.

	The target market demographics remain close to the previous baseline study, reflecting a majority of provincial visitors coming to our shores. The majority of visitors are non-white, female (63.9 %), and aged between 30 and 49. These figures are subject to change once the survey has been finalised, with the final results available under ‘Media’, with its drop-down menu to ‘Research’, together with our previous research.

Keep Updated

There is always so much happening on the KZN South Coast! Please feel free to share our newsletter with other interested parties and encourage them to sign up for updates. Please also submit any specials that you may be aware of for our #extendyourstay campaign, and share any blog content while making use of our numerous marketing opportunities.

	If you haven’t already, be sure to download the free ‘Explore KZN South Coast’ app from Google Play and Apple app stores. We urge you to encourage visitors to also download the app for regular updates on our tourism offerings. Information can also be found by visiting South Coast Tourism on Facebook; South Coast Tourism and Investment Enterprise on YouTube; @infosouthcoast on Twitter or Instagram; Info Ugu South Coast Tourism on LinkedIn; and www.visitkznsouthcoast.co.za to check out the Events Calendar, the KZN South Coast Meeting Planner Guide and more! And click here to check our previous SCTIE newsletters.

	To find out more about the KZN South Coast’s investment opportunities, contact 039 682 7944, email info@sctie.co.za or visit www.investkznsouthcoast.co.za.