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Numbers of visitors and shoppers - and the
amount they spent - still need to be tallied, but the Joburg Shopping Festival
is seen as a success.
SPENDING at the inaugural Joburg Shopping
Festival (JSF) will prove to be an economic boon for the city, despite shadows
of doubt cast by the global economic downturn, says Michael Sudarkasa, the
festival co-ordinator.
The expanse of Maponya Mall, one of the participants
"From a co-ordinator's vantage point, for
an initial activity I think that we did well with the resources that we
had to work with and planted the seed that in September Johannesburg promotes its retail sector," he
says.
The month-long festival began on Tuesday, 1
September and ends today. It is themed "Spring into Joburg and shop in the city
with the golden touch".
Taking part in the event, more than 20
shopping nodes in Joburg have offered shopping cutbacks of up to
50 percent on a vast range of merchandise, including jewellery, food, beauty
products and fragrances, fashion, electronics, handicrafts, textiles and other
local and international commodities.
Since it began, Sudarkasa says Joburgers and
visitors alike have been enjoying the arts, fashion and food "in record
numbers".
However, he notes that figures for shopper
turnout vary. "Turnout at the different participating shopping centres over the
month varied [according to] the email and verbal feedback we have received,
but we intend to undertake a formal evaluation via questionnaire and
focus group input and would have more specific responses in
October."
The Joburg Shopping Festival is hosted under
the auspices of the Johannesburg Tourism Company, and the City's departments of
economic development, arts and culture, and public liaison, and its 2010 office.
It is endorsed by the City of Joburg,
the Gauteng Tourism Authority and the Gauteng Economic Development Agency.
Boost revenue
The aim is to create an allure around Joburg's destinations and facilities to
boost revenue in the tourism, hospitality, logistics, transport and retail
sectors, and so grow these sectors. It is unique to Africa
and is its largest retail and wholesale shopping, entertainment and cultural
tourism event.
With the first one held this year, it is
planned in future to hold the shopping festival every September.
"As an inaugural event I think that the [Joburg
Shopping Festival] has achieved the intended goal of positioning Johannesburg as a major
shopping destination, particularly for shoppers from the continent," says
Sudarkasa.
At the time of the launch, it was expected
to draw more than 500 000 punters to participating centres, which include
Maponya Mall, Jabulani Mall, Oriental Plaza, The Zone in Rosebank, Montecasino,
Brightwater Commons, Fourways Mall and Southgate Mall, to list a few.
Dubai festival
Johannesburg's festival is loosely based on the
Dubai Shopping Festival, a well-known retail event aimed at promoting travel
and trade in Dubai.
During that festival, held in January every year, about 3,2 million punters splash
out more than United Arab Emirates dirham 10-billion (about R20-billion).
The Dubai Shopping Festival has become an
annual shopping, entertainment and cultural extravaganza that draws shopaholics
from around the globe.
In contrast, Johannesburg's retail sector generates about
R190-billion a year, with an investment rate of more than R20-billion.
Sudarkasa says the turnover from the Joburg
Shopping Festival cannot yet be quantified: "We will only be able to do that
after querying the shopping centres and retailers, which we intend to do
during the month of October."
Hosting such an event during an economic
recession has been a challenge, he says, but is has not hampered its success. Despite
budgetary constraints and other minor hiccups, Sudarkasa says "all in all, yes,
I do believe that the JSF was a success". He concedes, however, that it could
"be better and bigger".
JSF 2010
Indeed, the 2010 festival will definitely be "much bigger with corporate
sponsorship and a City of Johannesburg
budget reflective of the line items developed in 2009".
Planning for next year's event will begin
in November, "so that all stakeholders can plan their strategy to maximise the
opportunity" of the festival.
More than anything, the Joburg Shopping Festival
has attracted national and African tourists to the city, thereby entrenching its
position as sub-Saharan Africa's shopping mecca
and tourism magnet, says Sudarkasa.
Key highlights, he adds, have been the
collaborative relationships and joint marketing undertaken with the Soweto Wine
Festival, the Soweto Festival and SA Fashion week; the very positive working
relationship with the Arts Alive team; the links facilitated between the
shopping centres and selected African countries; the support from
participating travel partners; and the overall support from the Johannesburg
Tourism Company, Gauteng Tourism Authority and SA Tourism.
He adds that other highlights have been the
creativity and input shown by participating shopping centres through promoting
the festival; its in-country promotion in Malawi,
Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda; and the media and marketing
support from the City's public liaison office and Intetech Design, which
created the Joburg Shopping Festival
website.
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