Cape Town Secures 2008 Telegraph Travel Best World City Award
Affectionately known as the “Mother City” of South Africa, Cape Town is a popular tourist destination drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from within its borders and beyond every year. Set against the backdrop of the iconic Table Mountain, this vibrant city is packed with places of interest to visit, while its surroundings offer an astounding array of natural wonders to explore. South African Tourism recently announced that Cape Town has won the Best World City Award in the Telegraph Travel Awards 2008. Additionally, South Africa secured a spot in the top three for the category of Best Non-European Country.
This is the tenth year that the “Telegraph”, one of the leading daily newspapers in the United Kingdom, has sponsored these awards, which involves a survey completed by 40,000 of its readers. Sydney and San Francisco were also in the running for the top spot, but it was Cape Town that walked away with the Best World City Award for 2008. CEO of Cape Town Tourism, Mariëtte du-Toit Helmbold, expressed her delight at the news, noting that Cape Town is a value-for-money, authentic South African experience that keeps visitors coming back for more. UK Country Manager at South African Tourism, Lebohang Mokhesi, congratulated Cape Town on its award, stating that an accolade such as this from consumers is an endorsement of the wonderful tourism offering that Cape Town has developed.
One of the deciding factors that readers put forward for voting for Cape Town, and South Africa in general, is the value-for-money aspect of the city, as well as the strength of the UK pound against the South African Rand as compared with other world currencies. South African Tourism is well aware that in the current global financial climate, value-for-money has become a critical factor for both overseas tourists and local holiday makers and therefore focuses on providing this.
While South African Tourism is widely promoted through travel agencies in the UK and elsewhere, word of mouth remains one of the most powerful means of marketing. Visitors to the beautiful city of Cape Town relate their wonderful experiences to friends and family back home, who are then motivated to spend their next vacation visiting the city. Certainly, there is so much to see and do in Cape Town and its surroundings that it is impossible to experience it all in the average two to three week annual holiday, so it’s no wonder that holiday makers keep coming back for more.
