By Nangamso Mabindla
13 April 2006

IF the Eastern Cape wants to attract tourists it needs to position itself as one of the best tourist destinations in South Africa. This is according to Premier Nosimo Balindlela, who was speaking at the provincial branding workshop held in Chintsa on Tuesday, 11 April.

Balindlela said that before the province could attract tourists, its people needed to sell it as the best place to visit. "We need to ask ourselves, what makes us want to be tourists in our own province? Everyone should start seeing the province through their eyes; that is personalise how the province should be viewed."

She said the slogan chosen for the workshop, "Seeing the Eastern Cape through my eyes", would go a long way to ensuring that the province's citizens were proud of living in the Eastern Cape.

"I hope the workshop achieves its objectives of trying to find out what best describes us, places to visit and, most importantly, what makes the province unique."

The premier will soon lead a delegation to Asia, to sell the province and to learn about ways to sell it to international markets. "We will be visiting Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand," she said. "We want to sell our brand in those countries. We are sure that by the time we visit Asia, we will have a very good brand to sell to them."

However, for the Eastern Cape to be able to sell itself to the outside world, it needed to be part of the Brand South Africa initiative that aimed to expose the country to the outside world. Yvette Johnson, the chief executive of the International Marketing Council, said the province needed to be part of that collective effort in advertising tourism.

"The Eastern Cape brand should be part of the South African marketing campaign; in fact it is imperative that all provinces are part of this campaign," she said.

She urged the government to get involved in branding the country and its provinces. "We aim to play a big part in Asgisa [Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa] by creating a positive nation. We need to encourage people to come to our country, which is made up of provinces."

Branding unified people and the Eastern Cape needed to have a unifying project that would make people proud to have chosen it as the preferred tourist destination.

Talking about the role tourism played in Asgisa, Johnson said: "Potential investors might be interested in investing here. The net result is the creation of jobs and playing a big part in the economic growth of our country."

But for tourists to see the country as a preferred destination, provinces needed to have a unified approach to marketing and to limit competition. "You need to sell your province's strong points, not the negatives of other provinces. We need healthy competition, not negative remarks about other provinces. We must market the country collectively," she said.

Some of the tourist attractions in the province included the longest coastline in the country; the Wild Coast; the East London port, the only river port in South Africa; beautiful landscapes; diverse cultures; game reserves like Shamwari; friendly people; and the University of Fort Hare.