Cape Town on Turkish mission to strengthen ties that will benefit travel and trade

STATEMENT BY ALDERMAN JAMES VOS, MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

Following back-to-back meetings with Turkish local government and business leaders, I’m proud to share that we have agreed to outcomes that will positively impact Cape Town’s trade and tourism-related sectors. Read more below:

During these meetings, where I was joined by the Chief Executive and Board Chairman of Cape Town Tourism, the City’s official Destination Marketing Organisation, we committed to promoting our destinations through tourism exchanges, likewise for the events and exhibitions sectors, and influencing decision-makers to land direct flights between our cities. We also shared details of the Cape Trade Portal to drive up exports of Cape Town products.

This leg of our mission saw us meet the Honorary Consul of South Africa in Istanbul, Remzi Gür, talking about investment opportunities in high-growth sectors such as green technology solutions and manufacturing. This was followed by a sit-down with Turkish Airlines’ Vice President of Sales for Africa, Hikmet Mesut, to push for more volumes and value in passengers and cargo. The airline recently started flying its Dreamliner 787-9 to Cape Town, the first African city to welcome this luxury aircraft. While in Istanbul, we engaged with a few of their tourism-related service providers to discuss possible connections.

It was then onto Izmir, with whom Cape Town has signed a sister city agreement. There we met with the Izmir Chamber of Commerce and my local government counterparts, the Director of Urban Economy and Innovative Industries, Ceren Umay; and the Director of International Events and Tourism, Uǧur Sülün. We also met with our Honorary Consul of South Africa in the city, Tamer Taşkin, who introduced us to several businesses looking to invest in Cape Town.

This mission is all about strengthening partnerships to drive supply and demand for the benefit of Cape Town’s businesses, industries, and economy.

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Header: Alderman James Vos, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth with officials from the Izmir Directorate of Economics and Tourism

Image 1: From left to right – Brett Hendricks, Cape Town Tourism Chairperson; Uǧur Sülün, from the Izmir Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Director of International Events and Tourism; Alderman James Vos, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, Tamer Taşkin, the Honorary Consul of South Africa in Izmir, Theuns Vivian, the City of Cape Town’s Head of Destination Development and Place Marketing; and Enver Duminy, Cape Town Tourism CEO.

Image 2: Theuns Vivian, the City of Cape Town’s Head of Destination Development and Place Marketing;  Enver Duminy, Cape Town Tourism CEO; Brett Hendricks, Cape Town Tourism Chairperson; Alderman James Vos, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth; Turkish Airlines’ Vice President of Sales for Africa, Hikmet Mesut.