What do you do for me?

what do you do for me?

A story of Riebeek Valley Tourism – a personal journey

by Chris Murphy

what do you do for me?

A frequently asked question in tourism circles. Hopefully this document will supply some answers.

To quantify the perception of the Valley in the 90s, this recollection: Staying at a guesthouse in Langebaan the owner, on discovering I lived in Riebeek Kasteel, related that she had lived in the village during the 80s, and desiring to buy a house, contacted her bank regarding a bond. She was turned down. Approaching others, and building societies as they were then, the response was the same. No! The reason given was that no future economic potential was perceived. This became ironic when property prices later came to rival those in Cape Town.

Flying Springbok, 1997

In the 90s a tourism structure did not exist at all. The South African Airways inflight magazine, Flying Springbok, carried an article in March 1997 with the headline,

In the 90s a slow drift of city dwellers to more rural

‘Riebeek where?’. It summed up the situation perfectly.

locations started swelling, something of a national trend. Before the influx had been a trickle of the

Only a small number of hospitality businesses existed. In Riebeek West was the Riebeek Valley Hotel, Carol Annes (a guesthouse), and a restaurant called The Burgundy Snail.

In Riebeek Kasteel The Village Taverna and, of course, The Royal Hotel were the venues. Hermon had its hotel too.

artistic community, seeking a cheaper lifestyle. Those that followed could then believe that they would not be eaten by the locals. Today the Riebeek Valley has become suburbia in the country, with just about all of the facilities and amenities that urban living has to offer.

At that stage a group of locals decided to do something about promoting the area. The first initiative was to establish hiking trails on Kasteelberg. To this end I designed a logo, a predecessor of things to come.

Shortly after a leaflet was proposed to tempt visitors to the Valley delights.

At around this time I formed orchard design, with my studio literally surrounded by fruit trees, before relocating

The letter in 1997 asking for copy to be included in the initial leaflet.

the centre of the village. Early local projects were a leaflet for Riebeek Cellars, corporate design for the Royal Hotel, labels for Kloovenburg, a logo for Corné’s nursery . . .

To support the new leaflet a ‘new’ technology was on the horizon . . . websites. None of the locals had any concept of establishing one, so feelers were put out – we heard of a guy in Citrusdal who was setting up tourism sites for other towns. I found his details, made an appointment, drove up, and met Johann Human. We discussed the Valley project and he was keen to go. A domain was purchased: www.riebeekvalley.info Shortly afterwards he relocated to Riebeek West. The Valley was beginning to need a more structured approach, and Purple People Marketing was born, to populate and maintain the website, and produce a brochure.

From the early basic leaflet the latter developed into a full colour, multi-page brochure that circulated to other tourism bureaus, expos, and wherever a chance to promote was available.

Events were seen as a drawcard. The last ever Plaasmark first had to occur, a festival of local produce, and entertainment by Valiant Swart on the back of a truck on the square in Riebeek Kasteel.

Then came the first ‘real’ Olive Festival which was to alter

Valiant Swart performing on the square in Riebeek Kasteel.

the scenario forever. From a couple of thousand attendees at the initial event, it continued to evolve into one of the premier festivals in the West Coast region. At different stages Riebeek Valley Tourism was involved with various aspects to support the initiative.

Through developments the tourism logo continued to evolve, from its initial purpose of creating a local nature attraction, to its last incarnation including an olive tree.

The demands of tourism were changing too, and Swartland Municipality became involved, supplying buildings and financial support, not only to the Riebeek Valley, but also to Malmesbury, Darling, Yzerfontein, and Moorreesburg/ Koringberg. With this came formal, elected committees.

The evolution of the logo.

Just some of the chairmen I can recall are Allan Barnard, Malcolm Bushell, Johnno Blunt, Louis Steyn, Pieter Smuts, Shawn Hewitt, Klaus Piprek and Eric Venter.

Naturally the style and direction varied under their differing personalities.

One of the requirements of promoting a tourism destination, as in any business, is branding and marketing Attending a workshop representing Riebeek Valley Tourism.

“The Australian Society of Travel Writers have been visiting the Cape West Coast.

Their itinerary included Langebaan, Paternoster, Velddrif, Hopefield, Malmesbury (Paardeberg), the West Coast National Park and the Riebeek Valley.

Hopefully they will have taken back vivid impressions of our region and spread the word. And wonderful to have the support of the local hospitality industry.�

An example of groups that need to be hosted to promote the region.

material. Along with the logo I wrote copy, created diagrams and maps, and supplied photography.

To retain the corporate look this promotional material is needed for the website, brochures and leaflets, banners (for tourism shows and expos), newsletters, advertisements, stationery, and of course social media. The latter especially tends to soak up hundreds of items.

Copy for the greater tourism marketing strategy needs to be checked against the existing Riebeek Valley Tourism database.

There is also the aspect of hosting tour guides, bloggers, and supplying information to magazines and newspapers.

My belief in tourism has been stated many times, that for us the #Weskus in which we live, it is the best opportunity for economic growth. With little or no industry, agriculture at its peak, both from a land perspective and climate change, tourism must be the most viable way to create business situations resulting at the same time in employment and social upliftment.

One of the core functions of tourism is, and should be, to attract visitors to a place, creating a unique selling point (USP). The follow-up is to provide information about where to go, what to do.

The Riebeek Valley is positioned to be the major attraction, which should act as a focus to draw tourists, and circulate them to the diverse attractions on offer.

The USP for tourists is an important element. To this end I devised a map that located the Riebeek Valley at the middle of the #Weskus, to encourage visitors to base themselves in a central location and benefit from the diversity of the region.

Banners, leaflets, postcards and stickers produced for Riebeek Valley Tourism.

promotional material

Brochures are an essential part of marketing, being distributed to other tourism bureaus, utilised at shows and expos. From an early, limited version the growing Valley allowed me to grow and develop into the multipage version.

With the exception of the 2016-2017 brochure all the rest were produced under the nascent Riebeek Valley Publicity Association, then Purple People Marketing.

The ‘girls’ who were at the core of Purple People Marketing.

The cover that was proposed for the 2018-2019 brochure.

brochures

routes

Routes are considered a vital attraction for visitors. To that end I created two hiking trails, first walking then marking out and subsequently maintaining. Then I rode three cycle routes, and returned by car to establish the distances. Lastly I produced a route to depict some of the historical aspects of the Valley. All were made into leaflets with maps, information and photographs. A Nature, and Wine/ Olive routes were in the pipeline but have not been completed.

advertisements

This is a small sampling of material I produced for Riebeek Valley Tourism.

social media

+27 (0)22 448 1545 tourism@riebeekvalley.info www.riebeekvalley.info www.facebook.com/riebeektourism www.twitter.com/rvttourism www.instagram.com/RiebeekValleyTourism Over time Riebeek Valley Tourism has expanded its reach.

Newsletters were regularly posted on social media and mailed directly to members and residents of the Riebeek Valley.

Some of my photography I have permitted to be used for Riebeek Valley Tourism to promote the area.

photography

O RCH AR D [ d e s i g n ]

i n c o r p o r a t i n g chr is topher j .photography p o b ox 76 l h o p e f i e l d 7355 l western c ape c : 0 8 3 54 0 6131 l e : o rchard@wc ac c ess. c o. za w: w w w. chri s to p h e rj p hoto. c om www. noboundariesc ape. c o. za