As South Africa marked Tourism Month (September), Cape Town Tourism (CTT) and Visit Stellenbosch signed a Joint Marketing Agreement (JMA) to encourage visitors to stay longer and experience both destinations as part of a single Cape journey.

Cape Town brings coastline, city energy and cultural attractions. Stellenbosch adds wine, food, heritage, art, nature, shopping and unique local experiences.

Together, the two organisations aim to show how these distinct destinations complement one another within the same trip. The JMA was officially signed at Jordan Wine Estate in Stellenbosch on Tuesday 29 September.

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Strength in numbers

Said Annemie Liebenberg, CEO of Visit Stellenbosch: “Working with CTT allows us to connect two complementary destinations and create a stronger proposition for the region. Longer stays mean more visitor spend, more nights in accommodation and more opportunities for businesses across the tourism value chain to benefit. Importantly, this partnership is also about addressing seasonality and creating reasons to visit across the year.”

Stellenbosch recorded more than 1,35 million overnight visitors last year, contributing an estimated R13 billion in total economic impact.

The partnership builds on the strength of both destinations while creating new ways to distribute visitor demand, increase length of stay and broaden participation in the tourism economy.

“Cape Town is a destination that can easily fill a holiday, but it is also the gateway to so much more of the Cape,” said CTT CEO Enver Duminy.

“Stellenbosch adds another dimension to the Cape Town experience, and vice versa. There is a real opportunity to encourage visitors to stay longer, explore more and experience the diversity of our region. This partnership gives us a platform to make that connection more visible, particularly during key travel periods and throughout the year.”

Longer stays

Under the agreement CTT and Visit Stellenbosch will develop joint itineraries, share content and run collaborative campaigns across their digital channels, supported by joint media and trade activity.

The focus includes domestic visitors during school holidays, long weekends and the festive season, while also building reasons to visit year-round and addressing seasonality.

The collaboration will encourage visitors to extend their stay in either destination, showing how two distinct destinations can work together to create a richer, longer Cape experience, a joint showcase of the full breadth of experiences, in terms of campaigns, competitions and giveaways, creating opportunities for tourism businesses to participate in shared storytelling.

This combined offering will be presented to travel journalists, travel sellers and other industry marketers.

Where relevant, Cape Town and Stellenbosch will be positioned as complementary destinations.

No boundaries in experience

James Vos, Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee member for Economic Growth, said the city’s visitor economy is showing strong momentum, with 1,44 million international overnight visitors and 1,42 million domestic overnight trips last year.

“The opportunity now is to turn that demand into longer stays, greater visitor spend and wider economic benefits, where one is soft on borders and strong on vision,” he pointed out.

“Visitors don’t experience destinations by municipal boundaries, and neither should our tourism thinking. This partnership puts that into practice. Every additional night creates opportunities across the tourism value chain, from accommodation and restaurants to attractions, guides, retailers and the many businesses and people who depend on tourism.”

For visitors, the message is simple: “Cape Town and Stellenbosch. One more night. So much more to experience.”

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