Two of the Western Cape’s biggest tourism hubs – Cape Town and Stellenbosch – have formally joined forces in a landmark partnership aimed at keeping visitors in the region for longer, spreading tourism spend beyond traditional attractions and opening more opportunities for local businesses and communities.
Cape Town Tourism and Visit Stellenbosch signed a joint marketing agreement on Tuesday, marking what tourism leaders described as a significant shift from destinations competing for visitors to actively selling the wider region together.
Visit Stellenbosch chairperson Mike Ratcliffe said the agreement had been years in the making, tracing discussions about closer collaboration back to 2019. Ratcliffe, who is also closely associated with Stellenbosch’s wine tourism industry, is listed as chairperson of Visit Stellenbosch.
“We need to stop the concept of being a competitor to Cape Town,” Ratcliffe recalled telling colleagues when Visit Stellenbosch was launched. “Stellenbosch needs to recognise the fact that Cape Town is the big brother. Stellenbosch needs to recognise the fact that we need to become a strategic asset for Cape Town. We are not competitors.”
The partnership will focus on joint marketing, creating visitor itineraries and encouraging tourists arriving in Cape Town to explore Stellenbosch while also exposing Stellenbosch visitors to more of Cape Town.
Ratcliffe said Stellenbosch Wine Routes, which is celebrating its 55th anniversary, incorporates 135 wineries, while the town also boasts a major hospitality, restaurant and experience economy. He said wine remained one of Stellenbosch’s strongest tourism drawcards and could be used to persuade international travellers to extend their stays in Cape Town and South Africa.
“Tourists don’t experience municipal boundaries,” Ratcliffe said. “They want to come here and they want to have a great time.”
Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth James Vos said the partnership was about “complementing and co-creating” rather than competing. Vos said bringing together Cape Town’s cuisine, culture and communities with Stellenbosch’s wine, hospitality and experiences could help build stronger itineraries, improve the geographic spread of visitors and ultimately benefit tourism businesses. He said Cape Town tourism generated around R22 billion for the local economy last year and supported approximately 106,000 jobs, arguing that collaboration could further expand the tourism economy.
Beyond Table Mountain: expanding Cape Town’s visitor experience Cape Town Tourism CEO Enver Duminy similarly said visitors needed to be encouraged beyond the city’s most recognisable attractions and into its neighbourhoods. He compared Cape Town to a book where Table Mountain was the cover and the conventional tourism experience merely “chapter one. There’s so much heritage, richness [and] culture within neighbourhoods,” Duminy said.
The partnership also comes as both destinations look to technology to improve visitor experiences while protecting jobs.
Duminy said Cape Town Tourism had established an AI Travel Council and worked with technology partners, but stressed technology should serve as an enabler rather than replace people. For Ratcliffe, the agreement represented the culmination of years of discussions finally being turned into action.
CONGRATULATIONS on this strategic partnership,
WHAT: Landmark Tourism Partnership
WHERE: Cape Town & Stellenbosch
INFO: Cape Town Tourism VISIT | Visit Stellenbosch VISIT
PHOTO: CEO of Cape Town Tourism, Enver Duminy; Visit Stellenbosch Chairman, Mike Ratcliffe; CEO of Visit Stellenbosch, Annemie Liebenberg; City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, James Vos and Councillor (Planning, LED and Tourism) Tamryn Kumm – image: Tracy-Lynn Ruiters
