VISITOR CENTRE TOUCHSCREENS

Score FIFA World Cup supplement 11/05/2009

Lately I've been helping out with the City of Cape Town funded FIFA World Cup supplement, which is published monthly in the Cape Times and the Cape Argus.

VISITOR CENTRES TO BE UPGRADED WITH MULTIMEDIA TOUCHSCREENS

Cape Town Tourism deals with approximately 3 million enquiries per year through its network of well positioned Visitor Information Centres (VICs) and Call Centre. Over the next few months both existing and new VICs should be getting a hi-tech upgrade in the form of digital touchscreen media facilities.

Cape Town tourism in association with tourist authorities from Stellenbosch, Paarl Overstrand, Kwazulu-natal, Knysna and Plettenburg Bay have contracted Cape Town based Shout Media to undertake a rolling implementation that should see more than thirty of the machines installed in an program lasting until December 2010.

Bianca Dupont of Shout Media described the systems. “These platforms are branded and geared specifically for each Tourism Body and their unique needs. We not only offer Tourists easy access to vast and detailed Tourism information (ranging from Accommodation, Attractions, Activities and Events & Conferences through to Tours and Operators, Local Information, Restaurants Bars and Clubs, Shopping, Transportation, Wine Farms & Game Reserves) but also offer a cost effective means of marketing exposure for members within the Industry. “

Dupont said the facilities should prove useful to small businesses such as Bed and Breakfasts, that couldn't afford large marketing budgets and for whom new media was too expensive to add to their marketing efforts. She added that the system would eliminate the need for printing endless amounts of “brochure-ware”.

More than ten units have already been installed in locations in and around the city such as Cape Town Tourism's Burg street VIC, Cape Town International Airport, Mandela-Rhodes Place, Robben island, Somerset, Cape Gate and Tygervalley Shopping centres, the Cape Town International convention Centre and the V&A Waterfront, among others. Six Metrorail stations on the Simon's Town line, Cape Town, Observatory, Newlands, Kalk Bay, Muizenburg and Simon's Town are also scheduled to receive stand-alone touchscreens by the end of July 2009. The systems already installed recieve exposure to an annual foot count of 95million people.

Those units already installed will eventually benefit from a redesigned interface that has been developed for more advanced features such as video, virtual tours and enhanced ad pages. A real-time bookings and ticketing facility will also be added in the near future.

A spokesperson for Cape Town Tourism, Marisah Smith, said she was excited about the digital expansion of services that her organisation would soon be able to offer at their visitor centres. “One of the principles of our visitor centres is to provide continuously improving service levels through tools like the e-business platforms and touchscreens and stay attuned to market demand”

In the coming months, installations are scheduled to take place at the Willowbridge Lifestyle Centre, Cavendish Square and Canal Walk shopping centres and up to fifteen other high traffic locations that are yet to be announced. Proposed locations for future installations include Kommetjie, Blaauwberg Strand and Big Bay. All the systems are expected to remain operational and continue providing tourist information services well beyond the FIFA 2010 World Cup.