Mossel Bay to feature in Germany

Mossel Bay has been invited to screen its promotional video in all of Germany’s McDonald’s stores – and may soon also feature in the country’s Spar and Aldies supermarkets.

“I made contact with the people from 3Sixty TV during the 2010 ITB (the international tourism show in Berlin),” says Mossel Bay Tourism’s Marcia Holm. “Then this year they came and took a copy of our DVD, which they’ve now edited into three one-minute long silent movies with Mossel Bay’s name prominently displayed throughout, and this is what’ll be shown on the in-store networks.

“The captions they’ve added make it clear where Mossel Bay is in the world, and, with the fairly long dwell times in front of the store-based TVs, we can expect massive coverage for a long time to come.

“And the best thing about this is it hasn’t cost us a cent – it’s happened as a result of relationship building, and of Mossel Bay being a feature at ITB over a number of years.”

Holm says that Mossel Bay’s presence at the show also provided an opportunity to feature prominently in a publication which is given to German visitors coming to South Africa.

The 100-page booklet Mein Südliches Afrika is produced by Solid Solutions and is sponsored by Germany’s biggest tour operators – Dertour, Meiers, TUI, and Karawane Reisen among others. The company also produces similar publications for other markets such as the USA, Asia, and Australia.

Each edition remains on the shelves for 18 months.

“When Solid Solutions asked for an appointment at this year’s ITB, I thought they were going to try and sell us advertising – but when they arrived they asked me about Mossel Bay and the 2010 World Cup, and they asked me to write an 800-word article on Mossel Bay as My Town,” says Holm.

“This also doesn’t cost Mossel Bay Tourism a cent – but to benefit from this kind of opportunity, you have to be visible, and you have to keep Mossel Bay top of mind so that people get used to seeing you, and eventually become friendly with you.

“These opportunities show the value of relationship building, and are of inestimable rand value. They would not have come our way if the people involved didn’t know me and weren’t familiar with our product – which is visible on a regular basis at shows and workshops.

She says that German and Dutch tourists have been favouring Mossel Bay this year, and that a local backpackers reported being inundated with them this July. “The manager said that he recently had to turn away at least one group of 12 people because they were full.”

Statistics for the first quarter of 2011 also show an increase of German tourists to South Africa.

Mossel Bay’s 3-minute Video Tour can be seen here