The proposition
Make discovery
useful to the economy.
The proposed website connects visitor intent with a relevant, trustworthy next step: explore a place, plan a visit or contact an operator. It should help residents and visitors find suitable experiences while improving visibility for participating local businesses.
“What’s happening today?”
Dated events, accurate locations and current organiser information. Expired events leave the results automatically.
Proposed · Requires an events feed and an editor.
“Tours under R250.”
A per-person ceiling applied to verified prices and mandatory fees. Explain exclusions and the total cost for the selected group.
Proposed · Requires maintained operator prices.
“Activities for the family.”
Ask ages and group size, then show suitable experiences, facilities and full party cost. Confirm access needs with operators.
Proposed · Requires family and access information.Proposed discovery categories
- Culture
- Food
- Nightlife
- Nature
- Heritage
- Shopping
- Events
Proposed. Each category needs reviewed listings with an accountable operator before launch.
A clear visitor journey
Discover → compare → plan → contact the operator → confirm the visit. Keep practical details visible at every step. Price, location, age guidance and availability must come from reviewed records, not an invented answer.
Proposed next: live events, verified prices, family filters, operator onboarding and referral measurement. Live booking, payments and AI services are not connected.
Economic benefit
is a delivery requirement.
Every campaign should have a useful landing destination. Every featured offer should have an accountable operator. These requirements connect the identity proposal to a service that can be evaluated.
| Economic goal | Identity requirement | Website requirement | Accountable owner | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make local businesses easier to find | A partner lockup, storefront and event templates that preserve each business’s own identity. | Verified operator profiles, direct enquiry links and fair discovery for small businesses. | Partner lead | Active local operators; qualified referrals per operator. |
| Make domestic outings affordable | Resident-facing campaigns with readable, itemised offers. | “Tours under R250 per person” filters verified prices and mandatory fees; show child pricing and transport exclusions. | Content lead | Price freshness; affordable-offer enquiries; operator-confirmed visits. |
| Spread visitor spend | Community-authored stories and consistent wayfinding to participating neighbourhood businesses. | Suggest relevant nearby guides, food and crafts alongside anchor attractions, with consent and practical travel checks. | Community + product leads | Distribution of referrals across participating areas; net receipts reported by local operators. |
| Encourage another visit | A reusable calendar identity for markets, culture and seasonal programmes. | “What’s happening today?” uses dated, reviewed events; remove expired listings and offer opt-in reminders. | Events editor | Fresh event coverage; repeat visits with consent; verified redemptions. |
| Turn a short visit into a longer stay | Partner materials for hotels, conferences and business-event hosts. | Offer optional evening or next-day extensions through accommodation and tour partners. | Partnerships lead | Partner-confirmed extra nights and bookings; no inference from clicks. |
| Make family planning easier | Clear icons, legible signs and welcoming imagery created with participating communities. | Family results show age guidance, total party cost, facilities and operator-confirmed access information. | Visitor experience lead | Successful family enquiries; task completion; complaints and resolution time. |
Measure value that reaches local businesses
Separate discovery, enquiries, completed visits and money received. A click is not a sale. Report local operator receipts only from agreed, aggregated partner records, net of cancellations and refunds; define which businesses qualify as local before launch. Report the share of partners supplying data and avoid extrapolating to the whole city.
Use a pre-pilot baseline and, where feasible, comparable periods or a phased rollout to distinguish seasonality from campaign effects. Publish a monthly scorecard with data coverage and limitations. Jobs and citywide economic uplift require separate evidence.
Protect participation and visitor trust
Propose a free basic listing tier and assisted onboarding for small operators. Keep paid placements clearly labelled and separate from organic relevance. Rotate eligible businesses fairly within relevant results. Obtain permission for community stories and pay contributors under agreed terms. Participation marks must not imply official accreditation or municipal endorsement.
Verify operator identity, contact routes and content ownership before publication. Require price scope, mandatory fees, date validity and a review timestamp for offers. An accountable editor removes stale offers, handles complaints and records corrections. Collect only the information needed for enquiries and measurement, with clear consent and retention rules.
A staged 90-day pilot
- Days 1–30 · Prepare. Appoint owners, invite participating operators, co-design with community representatives, agree data definitions and record a baseline. Proposed gate: every published listing has an owner, contact method and review date.
- Days 31–60 · Test. Launch a bounded set of affordable, family and event journeys. Train operators, monitor referrals and check every dated offer before promoting it. Proposed gate: no unverified prices or expired events in eligible results.
- Days 61–90 · Decide. Review operator-confirmed outcomes, distribution of referrals, visitor feedback and costs. Fix weak journeys; expand only where information quality and partner benefit are demonstrated. Set numerical outcome targets jointly after the baseline.
Strategic context: South African Government tourism guidance highlights domestic demand, digital planning, cultural tourism and township enterprise participation. The specific mechanisms and pilot rules here are recommendations for this proposal, not government-mandated standards. Read the government tourism overview
Production acceptance
- Every promoted result has a verified operator, contact route, content owner and review date.
- Budget results contain verified in-date prices and their scope. Unknown-price listings do not qualify.
- “Today” uses the destination’s local date and timezone, includes only valid events, and discloses unavailable live data.
- Family results distinguish recorded age guidance and facilities from unverified accessibility claims.
- Recommendations respect budget, time, access requirements and preference before commercial placement; disclose sponsorship.
- Track enquiries separately from bookings; report financial outcomes only when the operator confirms them.