The OMI (Old Mutual Insure) Wellington Wine Route has always been a pretty “shy child” in the tourism classroom, notorious for their conservative and humble nature, but which has perhaps been the reason it has always been inclined to be a lot more reserved and definitely far less flamboyant about what they have to offer than their neighbouring counterparts.
And although business owners and role-players see tourism as a vital channel of income to this small town, it was a matter of taking what they could get and being grateful for it, as opposed to trying to up-sell. However, things appear to be changing — and they’re changing fast!
Once a hardly mentioned town, a mere stone’s throw from Cape Town, is now rapidly becoming a more spoken about, and broadly recognised, historic and breathtakingly beautiful town! Read any brochure about Wellington and you will find that the offerings are almost endless, rich with stories of years gone by, travellers, settlers, humanitarians, stowaways, artists, the home of the stokkies story! Also, agricultural benchmarks, award winning wines and renowned wine estates, among a variety of other sensational and astounding offerings.
The key to tourism performance has been turned: In recent months all participating Wellington Wine Route members, consisting of 17 wine estates, have amalgamated their energies into making a far louder (and prouder) marketing statement about this magnificent town. And the transformation has been colossal.
Therefore, and in essence, while everyone was out and about doing other things, Wellington was slowly turning into the next best place to visit in the Cape Winelands.
In more recent months the Wellington Wine Route has implemented a training programme to ensure all respective wine ambassadors from the various estates in Wellington get to know one another better. The aim of this initiative is to ensure a strong sense of camaraderie among the various members and staff, but also to empower everyone with priceless knowledge about everything in our region as a tourism destination, and each estate has something to offer. That way staff can refer guests to each other directly, advise on where to go and make valuable recommendations in terms of almost everything available in our town! The programme runs for a full day, once a month, where these ambassadors (key staff that engage with the public daily) visit two other estates (in Wellington) to learn about and experience everything they have to offer. Known as the “Masterclass” the day includes everything a guest could possibly experience and enjoy at the respective estate — and the ambassadors get to indulge in it all.
“We learn about each other’s estates, offerings, wine, food, facilities and the amazing people behind the scenes. We’ve become such great friends, and working in the Wellington Wine Route feels like belonging to one big family.” (Kathleen Vaughn, Mont Du Toit Wine Estate).
Rene Reece, the OMI Wellington Wine Route Members Liaison, believes that “empowering your front line” with this kind of knowledge and confidence, and to be able to refer your visitors to one another with enthusiasm, is one of the most powerful ways of marketing your destination. “We all know that we have a spectacular valley, phenomenal wines, endless offerings and so on,” she said, “but when you can say to a guest, ‘I’ve just called Carmen at Dunstone, and she’s expecting you for a private tasting and lunch…’, then you’ve taken guest experience to a whole new level, and that’s what we’re working towards.” Wellington has certainly upped its game in terms of being a hot-spot tourism destination, and personalised service appears to be the next target. The public is advised to keep their ears and eyes tuned to Wellington’s social media pages, such as “Visit Wellington” on Facebook, the respective estates and stay tuned to what’s on offer and happening next in this great wine and tourism destination.
