Development of Destination
Management and Marketing Strategies
Technical Proposal in response to UNESCO.HAR.2026.RFP.002 — June 2026
We did not come together by accident. Cape Town Tourism, 22°South and AEON Black chose one another deliberately, because we share a conviction about what this work can be, and who it must serve. We are bidding for this assignment because we believe Africa's World Heritage destinations deserve strategies authored with their communities, not merely about them.
Between us we bring destination management, heritage conservation, tourism planning, community engagement and digital innovation. We have delivered this work on the ground — at Great Zimbabwe, at Victoria Falls, across Cape Town, across Southern Africa — sitting with local operators, listening to communities, and building plans that hold up long after the consultants have gone.
The AEPC project asks us to build strategies that protect heritage, ensure community benefit, and create pathways for women, youth, people with disabilities and Indigenous peoples. That is not an instruction we will add at the end of a document. It is the frame through which every recommendation we make will be designed, from the first conversation to the final validation workshop.
We understand the ask — and the context it sits in
The AEPC Project
The Africa–Europe Partnerships for Culture (AEPC) project is implemented by UNESCO with financial support from the European Union. It aims to strengthen governance, enhance visitor experiences, and promote inclusive, sustainable tourism development at selected heritage sites across six Southern African countries. A core AEPC principle is the integration of gender equality, youth empowerment, disability inclusion and meaningful participation and benefit-sharing of women and Indigenous peoples — ensuring tourism development contributes to equitable socio-economic outcomes.
This RFP sits alongside a parallel workstream developing a multivocal Interpretation Framework for each site. The strategies we develop must align with and operationalise those frameworks — ensuring coherence between destination positioning, visitor experience design, and cultural heritage values.
Our understanding of the specific assignment
UNESCO requires a team that can operate across six countries, six heritage sites and six distinct community contexts and deliver not just strategy documents, but actionable frameworks that will outlast the project cycle. The strategies must grow visitation, strengthen governance, enhance visitor experience and ensure that communities — women, youth, people with disabilities and Indigenous peoples — are not afterthoughts but the reason for the design.
Cross-Cutting Priorities — Integrated, Not Appended
The Six Participating Sites — Click to Explore
4,500 rock paintings in a Kalahari landscape the San call the Mountains of the Gods. Culture is not what happened here — it is what is still happening.
Strategic challenge: Demand for this extraordinary site will follow the infrastructure built to receive it. The work is to build before demand outpaces community capacity to benefit.
A biosphere reserve at the confluence of three countries, carrying deep cultural significance and remarkable biodiversity.
Strategic challenge: Define a destination on its own terms before others define it incorrectly. This is as much a cultural preservation instrument as a destination strategy.
Where Lesotho's written history began. Extraordinary heritage depth not yet translated into the visitor economy it deserves.
Strategic challenge: Build the experiences and reasons to stay that turn a heritage footnote into a destination. Morija has the story — the work is infrastructure to tell it.
One of Africa's highest concentrations of ancient rock engravings. A site that already draws visitors — the challenge is ensuring value flows back to communities.
Strategic challenge: Deepen the experience, strengthen community benefit, and ensure governance is coherent enough to sustain what the site already attracts.
The ǂKhomani San reclaimed their ancestral territory in 1999. Among the world's most profound examples of a community reclaiming the right to define its place in tourism.
Strategic challenge: Serve the community's own vision of what engagement with visitors should look like, and what it must protect.
Ancient granite domes, San rock art and Ndebele spiritual geography. Connected to a regional visitor base and ready for a strategy that links it meaningfully into the broader tourism story.
Strategic challenge: Build the connective tissue between destination and region, activating demand already present in nearby Bulawayo and Zimbabwe's tourism corridors.
From the inside out — five phases, one framework
We do not arrive at destinations with pre-written strategies and ask communities to validate them. We arrive with questions, with listening as our primary methodology, and with the discipline to let the strategy emerge from what we actually find.
Inclusion Architecture — Integrated Across All Five Phases
Cross-cutting priorities — gender equality, youth empowerment, disability inclusion and Indigenous peoples' participation — are not a section at the end of each strategy. They are the architectural frame. In Phase 1 we conduct a dedicated inclusion gap analysis per site. In Phase 2 fieldwork, we meet with women's groups, youth structures and disability organisations as primary stakeholders. In Phase 3, inclusion mechanisms are built into governance design and supply development. In Phase 4, community and inclusion validation is a separate structured workshop. In Phase 5, the implementation roadmaps include specific, measurable inclusion milestones. At every phase, our local consultants — residents with lived knowledge of each context — advise on cultural dynamics, community protocol and the specific inclusion barriers at each site.
Establish the knowledge foundation and working framework before any fieldwork begins. Arrive at each destination with a clear picture of what is already known and a sharper sense of what still needs to be found out.
Build a rigorous, ground-level understanding of each destination through direct engagement and primary research. We travel to each site. We spend 4–5 days there — not as tourists, but as diagnosticians.
Translate diagnostic findings into comprehensive, inclusive and actionable destination management and marketing strategies. Six strategies developed in parallel, with a running cross-site synthesis layer.
We return to each destination. We present our analysis and recommendations to the people they are about — not to defend our conclusions, but to test them against the knowledge, experience and authority of communities who will live with the outcomes.
Deliver publication-ready strategies and implementation-ready tools designed to be used, not archived. Six destination strategies. Six implementation roadmaps. Six validation reports. One consolidated cross-site report.
Structured to meet your schedule
Delivery structured across five months, with parallel streams for all six destinations and a cross-site synthesis layer running throughout.
Precisely matched to the assignment
Each person in this team was selected for a specific contribution. Together they bring a depth of directly relevant experience — UNESCO project delivery, African heritage sites, destination strategy, community inclusion, local cultural knowledge — that does not typically exist in a single firm.
CEO and Non-Executive Director with over 25 years of executive leadership in tourism, governance, technology and the public sector. For 13 years he led Cape Town Tourism at the intersection of government, business and communities, strengthening Cape Town's position as a world-leading visitor destination. Delivered 21 consecutive clean audits. Grew self-generated revenue from ~15% to 25%+. Co-founded Cape Town Air Access — 19 new routes, +1.5m seats, ~$500m economic impact. Pioneered the world's first Destination X Organisation (DXO) model.
Presented the shift from volume-led to value-led destination measurement at the City Nation Place Global Forum, November 2025. Led the Cape Town Tourism Futures Report 2039, modelling four 15-year scenarios against climate disruption, geopolitical realignment and shifting visitor values.
Seven years across investment consulting, cross-sector advisory and tourism strategy and implementation. Career began in investment consulting, pivoting through project management in the travel insuretech space before deepening into destination strategy and tourism development. Passionate about designing an African tourism sector that keeps Africans at the core of its benefit.
Directly relevant: Co-led delivery of the UNESCO-backed Great Zimbabwe Destination Revitalisation and the World Bank's Victoria Falls destination marketing strategy and DMMO activation programme.
Over 15 years of management consulting experience spanning tourism, financial services, retail and telecommunications. Founded AEON Black to focus expertise on strategy consulting coupled with expert implementation to measurable business impact.
Has led Cape Town Tourism strategy operationalisation engagements from 2019 to 2026, including COVID-19 recovery planning and the business transformation that produced the DXO model.
20 years of strategic experience across brand planning, digital strategy, communications, B2B growth and implementation planning. Strategy Director at VML (WPP), contributing to the global B2B Strategy Centre of Excellence. Collaborated with the UCT Unilever Institute on the Black Diamonds segmentation studies.
Work has moved closer to destination strategy, tourism commercialisation, investment narrative and institutional execution — helping organisations clarify their role and translate complex ambition into market-facing strategies with implementable plans.
Over two decades of leadership spanning national policy, enterprise development and destination management. Former Chief Director at the National Department of Tourism; COO of Tourism Enterprise Partnership — a public-private body delivering small business support across all nine provinces. Five years at Grant Thornton designing tourism development plans.
Since 2017, Chief Destination Officer at Cape Town Tourism, overseeing visitor services, inclusive tourism community development, industry support and visitor safety across one of Africa's most complex urban destination ecosystems.
Ten case studies. Three firms. One team.
Our proof of work is not assembled to answer the question. Every case study below reflects experience directly relevant to this assignment — UNESCO project delivery, African heritage destinations, community inclusion, DMMO governance, multi-country strategy, and value chain benefit distribution.
Cape Town Tourism (CTT) is the City of Cape Town's officially contracted DMMO — one of the world's first Destination X Organisations (DXO). Under a formal multi-year agreement, CTT delivers comprehensive destination management: global brand leadership, community benefit, visitor safety, research intelligence, SMME development and responsible innovation. CTT has spent 13 years building a destination management model that places communities alongside visitors — the philosophy that underpins our approach to this assignment.
22°South supports destinations, institutions and development partners who view tourism as a vehicle for inclusive growth, sustainability and long-term place-based development. Founder Sumayah Rassool established the firm after seven years in investment consulting, cross-sector advisory, and tourism strategy and implementation — including the UNESCO-backed Great Zimbabwe revitalisation and the World Bank's Victoria Falls programme. Africa's greatest tourism assets are already world-class. The mission is ensuring the benefit of tourism in Africa reaches African people.
AEON Black works with tourism authorities, industry and major asset owners across sub-Saharan Africa. The firm focuses on the gap between destination ambition and executable strategy — the space where most plans stall. Engagements are run by principals with real delivery experience in African markets. AEON Black does not apply imported frameworks to environments that require locally calibrated thinking, long-term institutional commitment and relationships that outlast the project cycle.
Project Portfolio — Click any case study to expand
Victoria Falls encountered fragmented marketing pulling significant resources with limited reach. A DMMO was needed to coordinate under one voice. We consulted extensively with private and public stakeholders and delivered a full destination marketing strategy including the "We Are Victoria Falls" brand identity, campaign artefacts, social media accounts, a trade toolkit and data collection infrastructure. World Bank funded, 12 months.
Great Zimbabwe rivals ancient Roman cities in architectural significance yet shares none of the same spotlight. Post-COVID saw further decline. Phase 1: comprehensive destination and marketing strategy after conducting a destination diagnostic, national stakeholder consultations and site visits — assessing demand, supply and enablement. Phase 2: mobilised to implement, including DMMO establishment and activation.
CTT secured R3.53M from the TBCSA Collaborative Fund against CTT's own R3.32M to deliver six integrated programmes — neighbourhood experience development in Khayelitsha and Langa, a CPUT-endorsed marketing incubator, eKasi business-skills sessions, and the Board Development Fund redirecting board remuneration to women-owned tourism businesses.
CTT operates as the City of Cape Town's contracted DMMO under a formal multi-year agreement, delivering destination brand & marketing, visitor services & safety, research & intelligence, and SMME development. Ranked #1 Best City in the World (Time Out, 2025) and Africa's Leading City Destination (World Travel Awards, multiple years). The community-centred, inclusion-designed operating model is the direct antecedent to the approach we propose for the AEPC sites.
CTT facilitated a strategic tri-destination partnership between Cape Town, Zimbabwe and Namibia, creating a shared regional vision through four pillars: multi-country itinerary promotion, coordinated demand-generation, events as catalysts for regional travel, and public-private stakeholder alignment across three national tourism authorities.
High interest across the Africa CEL region was not translating into longer stays, higher spend or regional dispersal. Four friction points drove the gap: safety perception, value uncertainty, complex administrative processes and cross-border payment barriers. We developed a trust-based strategic framework across three pillars, repositioning the conversation from policing to visible human reassurance and systemic friction reduction.
Dubai Tourism needed an independent validation layer for commissioned segmentation research focused on sports tourism. We ran parallel analysis to either confirm or challenge segmentation hypotheses — where our data aligned it strengthened the targeting brief; where it diverged we surfaced those gaps and provided alternative segmentation recommendations.
With 114M projected annual footfalls, the challenge was not communicating scale but making the project investable and market-ready to a sophisticated global audience. We developed a destination narrative across three pillars — Smart City Scale, Cultural Gravity and Human Stories — securing internal board approval for a 2025 budget cycle.
TMACC operates one of Cape Town's most visible visitor experiences with a complex environment shaped by weather, capacity, safety and long-term concession requirements. We designed a strategy and implementation process around clear diagnostic logic: what needs improving, what needs protecting, what needs proving to stakeholders, and what can be delivered within practical constraints.
A city DMO facing competitive tender on its primary contract for the first time, with a stretched leadership team. AEON Black initiated the engagement with a two-day facilitated executive workshop, building a structured three-horizon framework separating: defending the core revenue base; building diversified commercial income streams; repositioning as a long-term intelligence and coordination platform.
Mandatory & desirable requirements — fully addressed
Every mandatory requirement is met. No exceptions. The table below maps each requirement directly to our evidence.
| Requirement | Status | How We Meet It |
|---|---|---|
| Proven experience of at least 10 years in destination development, management and marketing | ✓ Met | Cape Town Tourism has been Cape Town's official DMMO for 13 years under formal City contract |
| At least 2 project reports demonstrating tourism marketing strategies of similar scale and complexity | ✓ Met | Case Study 02: Great Zimbabwe (UNESCO) · Case Study 01: Victoria Falls (World Bank) — both submitted with project portfolios |
| At least 1 project report demonstrating multi-country or large-scale assignment | ✓ Met | Case Study 05: Multi-regional partnership across Cape Town, Zimbabwe and Namibia — three national tourism authorities, multi-country itinerary development |
| Demonstrated experience in stakeholder consultation and participatory planning processes | ✓ Met | Victoria Falls stakeholder consultations and DMMO workshops; Great Zimbabwe community engagement and DMMO mobilisation — portfolios submitted |
| Requirement | Status | How We Meet It |
|---|---|---|
| At least a Master's degree in tourism planning, marketing, culture and heritage management or related field | ✓ Met | Enver Duminy: MBA (MANCOSA) + PG Diploma in Future Studies (Stellenbosch Business School) + BSc Computer Science (UWC) |
| Minimum 10 years relevant professional experience in destination management and marketing | ✓ Met | 25+ years executive leadership in tourism. 13 years as CEO of Cape Town Tourism — one of Africa's leading DMOs |
| Proven experience leading multidisciplinary teams on complex assignments; organograms for at least 2 projects | ✓ Met | Led Cape Town Tourism through DXO transformation across government, business and community stakeholders. Organograms submitted for Great Zimbabwe and Cape Town DMMO |
| Demonstrated experience developing destination or tourism strategies — at least one implementation plan or report | ✓ Met | CTT Futures Report 2039; Cape Town DMMO multi-year strategy; Great Zimbabwe Destination Revitalisation (Phase 1 strategy + Phase 2 implementation) |
| Requirement | Status | How We Meet It |
|---|---|---|
| Tourism Marketing Specialist — minimum 7 years experience in destination branding and positioning; degree in Marketing, Communications or related | ✓ Met | Jason Levine (15+ yrs, Columbia Digital Strategies) and Jade Dos Santos (20 yrs, VML/WPP, Higher Dip Integrated Marketing Comms) — both meet and significantly exceed the requirement |
| Tourism Economics and Investment Specialist — minimum 7 years experience in investment analysis and tourism economics; Bachelor's degree in Economics, Business Administration, Tourism Management, Finance or related | ✓ Met | Sumayah Rassool: BComHons Financial Analysis + BCom Economics & Statistics (both UCT). 7+ years spanning investment consulting and tourism economics |
| Local resident consultant per participating country — minimum 5 years experience in tourism, heritage or community engagement; demonstrated knowledge of local context | ✓ Met | Confirmed: Zimbabwe (Mushoorwa, 13+ yrs), Botswana (Hird, 17+ yrs), Namibia (Ngondo, 16+ yrs), Eswatini (Yende). Lesotho and South Africa consultants in final selection |
| At least one team member with strong understanding of tourism value chains, public-private partnerships and destination development | ✓ Met | Sumayah Rassool (investment and value chain analysis across Great Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls); Lisa Hosking (former Chief Director, National Dept of Tourism; COO Tourism Enterprise Partnership) |
| Requirement | Status | How We Meet It |
|---|---|---|
| Experience working in Africa | ★ Strong | Cape Town (SA), Great Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe/Zambia), Botswana, Namibia — multi-country. Core delivery team based in Africa. |
| Experience with UN agencies, international organisations or donor-funded projects — 2 references an asset | ✓ Met | UNESCO (Great Zimbabwe) · World Bank (Victoria Falls) — two references available: Rodney Bunhiko (UNESCO) and Hermione Neville (World Bank) |
| Culture and heritage-based tourism and UNESCO-designated sites — at least 1 report or project portfolio | ✓ Met | Great Zimbabwe World Heritage Site — full revitalisation, DMMO establishment and implementation. Portfolio submitted. |
| Integrating gender equality, youth empowerment, disability inclusion and Indigenous peoples' participation — at least 2 project reports | ✓ Met | Cape Town: Future Leaders Schools Programme, women-led Board Development Fund, Winston Fani (Africa's first blind tourist guide — Limitless Cape Town). Great Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls: inclusion elements embedded across methodology. |
| Community engagement and participatory planning | ✓ Met | Cape Town community-centred tourism model; Great Zimbabwe DMMO mobilisation; Victoria Falls stakeholder workshops with local operators and communities |
| Gender balance and social inclusion within proposed team | ✓ Met | Core delivery team includes Sumayah Rassool and Jade Dos Santos (women). Lisa Hosking. Local consultants include women consultants across multiple countries. Team composition actively reflects the inclusion principles of the AEPC project. |
Our commitment
"Africa's heritage is waiting to be discovered — but on its own terms, at its own pace, by the visitors who will value it rather than consume it. The strategies we build will be grounded in what we find, honest about what each destination is ready for, and designed to ensure that when visitors arrive — and they will — the benefit reaches the people it has always belonged to."