The Johannesburg Tourism Company (JTC) is promoting the city as so much more than a place to enter and exit South Africa.
Addressing the recent Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa) annual general meeting at the Indaba hotel in Fourways, JTC CEO Deon Viljoen unveiled a campaign to encourage international visitors to “stay another day” in Jozi.
The average overseas tourist currently spends about two or three days in Johannesburg on his or her way to somewhere else.
“We don’t have game parks, the Big Five, the sea or a big mountain from which to look down on our city, but we do have a rich cultural heritage to share with visitors,” Viljoen explained.
Venues like Constitution Hill are at the forefront of alternative cultural discovery routes around Johannesburg that Vijoen hopes will tempt visitors to spend more time and money in the city.
The late Aggrey Klaaste, former editor of the Sowetan newspaper, was the JTC’s chairperson before his death last month.
His successor will take the reins in August. The board of the JTC includes Standard Bank head of communications Victor Nosi and singer and businesswoman Yvonne Chaka Chaka.
The company is concentrating on tourism marketing, tourism information dissemination, tourism research, conventions and incentives, for which it has set up a bureau.
In addition, a visitors and tourist information bureau has been set up in Rosebank.
Considerable success has already been achieved in the convention market, with several major events secured for the city over the coming year.
The meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition market is one that Johannesburg has developed a reputation for in the wake of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Currently 56% of all exhibitions in South Africa are hosted in the city of gold.