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Cape Town Tourism launched its digital media platform, which includes state of the art touchscreen technology, on the Cape Town and Western Cape stand at Indaba in Durban earlier this month, in preparation for 2010. With the demand for instantly accessible information, Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, said the organisation is determined to stay abreast of global trends. "Travellers want and expect information at the touch of a button. Just because we are a third-world country does not mean that we cannot and should not deliver first-world services," she said at the launch. "We cannot just meet expectations; we have the capability and the product to exceed expectations."

The touchscreens will act as unmanned Visitor Information points at various high density tourist areas, major attractions and at key 2010 locations during the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. A national roll-out is planned and touchscreens are already at Cape Town International Airport and the bustling Cape Town Tourism Visitor Centre in the city centre. Visitors can search for information by map or category and general info includes money matters, safety tips and getting around.

All products listed are accredited and members of Cape Town Tourism.

"The future of travel has visitors arriving at their destination and using their hand held devices to navigate the destination - information and tourism services must be decentralised, taking accurate and user-friendly destination knowledge to the visitor.

'Cutting edge'
"Ways in which people access information and interact with destinations they visit for events, holidays or meetings are changing and we are determined and ready to keep up with that change and remain at the cutting edge of destination management," Du Toit-Helmbold said. "The world knows that Cape Town is beautiful, cosmopolitan and welcoming, but they must have confidence in our ability to be sophisticated, cutting edge and excellent."

(Source: news24.com)