Mossel Bay's 2010 involvement leads to international exposure

This adds to the international potential for visitors to the area following the launch of its South-South Strategy in Brazil and Argentina during SAA's ‘Explore South Africa' workshops, which were held in Sao Paulo on 1 September 2009 and in Buenos Aires on 3 September.

According to Marcia Holm, COO of Mossel Bay Tourism, the town received a “surprising, unbelievable and inspiring” reception from the South Americans.

“We had a media conference in Sao Paulo and, besides our Legacy Projects and the launch of the South-South Strategy; I mentioned the connections between Mossel Bay and Portugal. This struck a particular chord and prompted many people to come to our stand to talk to me later in the day: the story of the Post Office Tree at the Dias Museum Complex seemed to have particularly resonance for the audience.

Holm said that the people of Sao Paulo seemed particularly keen and ready to travel and that one of the immediate results of the workshop was that a Brazilian television crew had decided to visit Mossel Bay in the near future.

“If the Sao Paulo workshop was a success, Buenos Aires was even bigger and this was unexpected because it seemed from the arrangements that it was a smaller event. SAA and our Argentinean Embassy put it together and it was unbelievably busy. Louis Harris, our 2010 coordinator, has done an amazing job of positioning Mossel Bay in the minds of the Argentineans and it was clear that ours was the busiest stand on the show.

“Everyone knew where Mossel Bay was, and everyone was keen to come and visit, and showed an interest that extended well beyond the World Cup. Of course, sports tourism was on everybody's minds - perhaps because the Argentineans have often visited us on rugby tours - and we had enquiries about rugby and hockey as well as soccer, with the Nautilus Bay Sports Academy drawing particular attention.

“I also spoke on our ‘We Speak Spanish' campaign, which seeks to train 400 locals in conversational Spanish ahead of the World Cup next year for the Argentinean audiences.”

Mossel Bay recently unveiled its new Spanish language web site www.mosselbay2010.com.ar as part of the launch of its South-South Strategy and Holm delivered Spanish language brochures on Things to Do in Mossel Bay to both Brazil and Argentina.

BBC film crew highlight walking trails

BBC presenter Julia Bradbury visited Mossel Bay last week with a crew from the British television production company Skyworks to film a documentary on the Mossel Bay's Cape St Blaize and Oyster Catcher Hiking Trails.

“We're doing a four-part series on walking in South Africa for BBC Four - which is known as the ‘thinking channel' because of the serious nature of its material, which is not afraid to tackle complexity,” said executive producer Eric Harwood. “In our programmes, we try to find out more than just where the walk leads you physically, we're also making a social history programme, because we examine all aspects of the recent and ancient history of the area.”

Harwood said that the show could expect to draw an initial audience of between 3 - 4 million viewers, “and would probably be repeated two or three times.” Besides BBC Four, it will also air on BBC Two.

Part of Bradbury's visit to Mossel Bay included a walk to the Pinnacle Point Caves and an interview with Professor Curtis Marean of the Mossel Bay Archaeology Project. This is studying the climate of the area over the past four hundred thousand years as recorded in the caves, as well as the human habitation of the caves over the past 165 000 years.

According to The Guardian newspaper's Gareth McLean, Bradbury is “one of the best presenters on British television,” and “manages to be authoritative and warm, funny but not fluffy.”

Harwood concluded that it helped that, “We've felt very welcome here. People have been phenomenally supportive, generous and warm and that makes you want to come back.”

“Many of these opportunities to showcase our town and region would never have arisen were it not for the World Cup - which has opened an unprecedented number of doors for South Africa in general and for Mossel Bay in particular,” continues Holm.

“It is indeed the biggest marketing event we're ever likely to see, and we're grateful both to FIFA for choosing our country and to companies like Skyworks for choosing Mossel Bay,” concludes Holm.