TFCA 2010 DEVELOPMENT UNIT
MEDIA FACT SHEET – LAUNCH OF BRAND
The motivation for bidding to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa was based on the understanding that it would not only benefit South Africa alone but the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and Africa as a whole. This understanding was confirmed by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, when he said –
“The foundation of this bid lies in our resolve to ensure that the 21st century unfolds as a century of growth and development in Africa. This is not a dream, it is a practical policy. In July 2002, the African Union was established to accomplish unity, development and co-operation among African Nationals and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was launched to open new space for the economic progress of the continent. We want on behalf of our continent to stage an event that will send ripples of confidence from the Cape to Cairo – an event that will create social and economic opportunities throughout Africa…..we want to show that Africa’s time has come”. (Letter to FIFA President Mr Joseph Blatter, World Cup 2010, Bid Book).
At the SADC Council of Ministers’ meeting held at the Grand Bare, Mauritius from the 9th to the 15th of August 2004, a resolution was passed mandating Ministers responsible for Sport, Tourism and Information to develop strategies which will ensure that the region benefits from the hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup by South Africa. In response to the mandate, the Ministers responsible for the implementation of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area (LTFCA) project agreed that the transfrontier initiatives have the potential to benefit from the 2010 Soccer World Cup in terms of tourism. This view was based on the realisation that apart from being home to Africa’s unique attractions, wildlife (fauna and flora), beautiful landscapes, culture and history, TFPs and TFCAs have the distinct advantage of having in place co-ordination and collaboration mechanisms that can be used to take advantage of the 2010 event. The consolidation of transfrontier initiatives therefore provided an opportunity to create Africa’s premier international tourist destinations.
Within much of Southern Africa, effective management of natural resources requires at least some degree of management across boundaries. This is due to the fact that, boundaries, drawn to divide countries, were set without taking into consideration the ecosystem boundaries as a result they have had the effect of dissecting natural ecosystems into unsustainable components which are restrictive to the movement of wildlife and tourists. Although the problems that follow from these divisions have long been recognized, it is only in the last decade that a concerted effort has been made to identify such situations and to attempt to rectify them. Central to this process has been the development and establishment of a series of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) and Transfrontier Parks (TFPs).
A TFCA is an area straddling across two or more international borders where the natural and cultural resources are collaboratively managed by the governments/authorities involved; and a TFP is an area where two or more protected areas are managed jointly.
Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) have therefore been identified, through the SADC systems and processes, as the correct mechanism for spreading the tourism benefits of hosting the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup in Africa through branding and marketing the region as favorable tourism and investment destination.
The main objective of the TFCA strategy is to increase the tourism potential of Southern Africa by consolidating the marketing, infrastructure development and investment promotion efforts of existing transfrontier initiatives and utilize the Soccer World Cup as a platform to initiate a long-term investment and marketing strategy for TFCAs. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) is coordinating the implementation of the strategy.
A key output of the TFCA strategy is the development of a consolidated brand for TFCAs. The brand will be launched during the Tourism Indaba on 10 May by the nine countries involved (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zamia and Zimbabwe). The purpose of the brand is to increase the awareness about TFCAs as tourist destinations as well as to raise the profile of TFCAs as areas for investment.
TFCAs are currently marketed under different names, and the fragmented product names confuse the market. Further to this, limited marketing is undertaken on each TFCA. Thus, telling the world about the southern Africa TFCAs and a diversity of products available in the region is critical to delivering tourist arrivals to the SADC.
Nine Southern African countries have chosen to support the Boundless Southern Africa brand as a means of showcasing the Transfrontier Conservation Areas straddling the SADC region. These Transfrontier Conservation Areas offer the very best in the beauty and diversity of the region. The nine countries will be launching Boundless Southern Africa as the strategic brand for TFCAs. The vision for Boundless Southern Africa is to become an authentically Southern African brand where the countries are united through a passion for nature, culture and community.
The benefits of having a single brand in the region cannot be overemphasized. TFCAs are the common denominator that links various countries and bring people together in a common spirit. In the majority of cases, the key anchor tourist products such as the mighty Victoria Falls, the Okavango Delta, and the Fish River Canyon are within the TFCAs. One can therefore conclude that TFCAs are Africa’s unique selling point and therefore one brand makes sense and becomes a strong marketing model for SADC globally. This brand is a reflection of the values of TFCAs and it will form the basis for awareness raising campaigns and active marketing of TFCAs. Following the launch of the brand on 10 May, an inter-agency implementation framework will be developed to determine the way in which the various tourism and conservation agencies involved in TFCAs, will jointly position the brand to the international tourist market. .
One of the current constraints for tourism growth in the SADC region is lack of investment, which can partly be ascribed to two factors: limited awareness among the international investment community about tourism investment opportunities in the region; and lack of packaged and ready to go investments. The TFCA 2010 infrastructure and investment process aim at stimulating investment in TFCAs in both short and long term basis. To this extent and investment conference will be held in Sandton from 20-22 October 2008. Investment opportunities will be promoted to potential investors through different avenues including investment conferences, focused business meetings, print media, and various website links. |
