CapeTown Tourism is set to attend the annual travel show, ITB, in Berlin from March 7-11, 2012, where they will launch a new digital trade tool, “The Cape Town Toolkit,” to the international trade market.

ITB Berlin, the world’s leading trade travel show, attracts more than 170,000 visitors, among these 108,000 trade visitors and over 10,000 exhibitors from 180 countries.

The Cape Town Toolkit is an online hub of itineraries, images, and information about Cape Town that allows registered users in the travel, tourism, and marketing trade to access promotional material and resources that enables them to sell Cape Town as a leisure and business destination. Users are able to select elements and package information on Cape Town in order to put together custom itineraries using Cape Town Tourism collateral, as well as share content in accordance with Cape Town Tourism’s marketing theme: “You don’t need a holiday, you need Cape Town!” Travel trade will be able to adopt the marketing campaign and promote their own packages under the banner of “You don’t need a holiday, you need Cape Town!”

Content will be housed online and kept continuously up-to-date and relevant with information on new happenings and products in Cape Town, such as the recently-launched Cape Town Beer and Fashion Routes and the Diamond Museum.

In addition, the unique login for registered users will allow personal themes and information sharing relevant to the individual needs of users. For example, if you are interested in specific themes like food, wine, design, or adventure, you would receive news and information relevant to your indicated areas of interest.

The Cape Town Toolkit will be housed on the CapeTown Tourism website ( www.capetown.travel/toolkit ) and will go live on March 8, 2012. The launch takes place at ITB on Thursday, March 8 from 1030-1130 in ICC, Saal 10, ITB Messe.

This online resource will be introduced to the trade at ITB and will form part of trade educational workshops run by Cape Town Tourism’s international trade and media representatives during the roll-out of the “You don’t need a holiday, you need Cape Town!” campaign. The toolkit will be introduced to the Cape Town trade and Cape Town Tourism members during a road show in April.

Communications Manager of Cape Town Tourism, Skye Grove, commented: “The Cape Town Toolkit will allow Cape Town role players easy access to up-to-date information on the destination, as well as allow them to interact and put together quintessentially Cape Town packages that will expand on Cape Town’s typical tourism offerings.”

Said UK operator, Gerla Pusey-de Boer of EP Travel: “The travel trade needs customized and fresh information to sell destinations to audiences who are spoiled for information choice through social media. The Cape Town Toolkit is an exciting initiative to package destination information in a way that will appeal to niche audiences, first time, as well as repeat visitors to Cape Town.”