USHAKA MARINE INDIVIDUAL FEATURE

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South Africa Magazine talks life aquatic, fun, theme parks and how to increase footfalls and revenue with Shawn Thompson, the chief executive officer of uShaka Marine World. By Ian Armitage

T H E M O N E Y


South Africa Magazine talks life aquatic, fun, theme parks and how to increase footfalls and revenue with Shawn Thompson, the chief executive officer of uShaka Marine World. By Ian Armitage

Shoal me Shoal me T H E M O N E YT H E M O N E Y

I n just a few years uShaka Marine World has become a fi xture of Durban’s Golden Mile, allowing visitors to not just view but also get

among sea creatures.But there’s nothing fi shy about this

success story.“uShaka Marine World has certainly

positioned itself as a key attraction,” says Shawn Thompson, the chief executive offi cer of uShaka Marine World, which opened in 2004.

The park comprises four sections: uShaka Sea World, uShaka Wet ‘n Wild, uShaka Kids World, and uShaka Village Walk. These four components are adjacent to the uShaka beach, which is Durban’s number one rated swimming beach.

It is hugely successful, attracting over 500,000 visitors during the festive season alone.

You might say Mr Thompson is having a whale of a time – revenues and visitor numbers are up and the future is looking bright.

“I think there are a few factors behind it,” he says. “Certainly our marketing strategy has played a part. We’ve become a more focused in terms of the market segments we’ve targeted and we’ve worked on ways of penetrating those. We tailor our campaigns to ensure we get the results we want and have had some very good recent successes - there’s been a lot of time and effort put into segmenting the market into various demographics, by race, age, income and then targeting those. We use various media to get people to come to Ushaka Marine World. We also have a huge digital presence - our website is visited by 45,000 new visitors every month and our Facebook page has over 35,000 followers.”

uShaka Marine World focuS TRAVEL

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The introduction of new attractions has helped too.In the last year uShaka Marine World has introduced the Splish Splash Sprinkler Island, the New Seal Show, Anaconda Photo Shop, Dragons, Popup Tank, New Mascot Show and Animal Encounters.

“We’ve put in a significant investment with Ushaka Kids World and then just recently we introduced the Splish Splash Sprinkler Island for under 12 year olds - an interactive play area that’s proved very popular. Inside Kids World is the Duzi River Lounge. Adding this coffee shop means that when mums and dads want a little bit of time out they can actually sit within Kids World

and have a coffee or watch a bit of sport and let the kids run amuck outside! So I think that whole component has taken off very well.”

The Dangerous Creatures exhibit inside Village Walk has proved tremendously popular too. “Oh it has, very much so. And we keep adding new things to it. Just two months ago we brought in two Komodo dragons from Indonesia. They have been put in an enclosure directly outside the entrance so it really stops people in their tracks and that’s been quite exciting.

“We experiment all the time with temporary exhibits and we’re always looking at creating more fun. Over the

I&J is a long standing supporter of marine education initiatives and so it comes as no surprise that it has entered into a sponsorship agreement with uShaka Marine World, one of the key tourist attractions in Durban and a strong supporter of marine education and conservation programs.

I&J will be sponsoring the Snorkel Lagoon as well as the Ocean Walk attractions. The soon to be re-named I&J Snorkel Lagoon and Ocean Walk offers visitors to uShaka Marine World an opportunity to experience the awe and wonder of the marine environment up close. And, by seeing and experiencing the colour and splendor of a coral reef, visitors are likely to leave uShaka Marine World with a new understanding of the marine environment, and the need to manage and conserve it into the future.

Having fished successfully in South African waters for more than a century, I&J is equally aware of the responsibility it has to manage fish stocks carefully and harvest them with a long term vision and commitment. That is why “respect, care and concern for the environment” is one of the core values of the I&J brand.

To find out more about I&J’s commitment to sustainable fishing, please visit www.ij.co.za.

Much loved seafood brand to sponsor popular Snorkel Lagoon and Ocean Walk

I&J, a leading South African fishing company, has further demonstrated its commitment to the environment by signing a landmark participation agreement with the WWF-SA Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (WWF-SASSI). This enhances I&J’s long history of responsible fishing where it has provided clear leadership through, amongst others, its commitment to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), its active role in the Stewardship Council (MSC), its active role in the Responsible Fisheries Alliance (RFA) and its continued support of the Responsible Fisheries Training Programme.

I&J’s participation agreement represents a formal commitment to sustainable seafood by the company to work with WWF-SASSI towards the goal of ensuring that, by December 2015, I&J will only sell seafood products that are: • Certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for wild

capture species (the world’s leading eco-label for wild caught seafood) or;

• Certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) for species originating from aquaculture operations (the newly launched eco-label for responsible aquaculture production) or;

• Green-listed by WWF-SASSI; or •• The subject of a time-bound fishery improvement project or

by catch management plan as approved by WWF-SA.

In making this public announcement, I&J becomes the In making this public announcement, I&J becomes the first fishing company in South Africa to make such a strong commitment to sustainable seafood. In what WWF-SA believes to be an industry leading initiative, the scope of the commitment extends beyond the seafood species that I&J procure to incorporate all of the species from their fishing operations as well. As an active participant in the WWF-SASSI Retailer/Supplier participant in the WWF-SASSI Retailer/Supplier Participation Scheme, the company will actively engage with its own fishing operations and suppliers to make this vision a reality.

“These sustainability goals are a clear statement of intent by I&J to drive positive change by formalising the company’s commitment to sustainable fishing practices and meeting hard and fast targets,“ says Ronald Fasol, Chief Executive Officer of I&J, who, together with WWF-SA CEO Dr Morné du Plessis, signed the agreement.

Du Plessis says, “This is a leading and positive step in achieving sustainability in the seafood industry. WWF believes that corporate engagement is key to transforming markets and for adopting and promoting sector-wide shifts to sustainable development and corporate best practice. The transformational nature of this partnership is highlighted by the commitments to sustainable seafood that I&J have made. We congratulate I&J for leading the way in setting these We congratulate I&J for leading the way in setting these tangible conservation goals for the fishing sector.”

I&J is a major stakeholder in the South African fishing industry. The company is the largest right-holder in the commercially important hake fisheries and trades in both whole fish and value added seafood products. I&J played an integral part in the MSC certification of the South African hake trawl industry. Furthermore, since 2004, I&J have held an MSC Chain-of-Custody certification resulting in the MSC ‘eco label’ appearing on I&J’s South African trawl hake ‘eco label’ appearing on I&J’s South African trawl hake products. This gives consumers an on-product assurance that these products comply with the MSC’s principles for sustainable seafood production.

“I&J have an important contribution to make towards the sustainable management of fisheries, not only in South Africa, but in every country where we do business,” said Fasol. While the WWF-SASSI agreement captures I&J’s commitment to sustainable fishing and the trade in sustainable seafood products, the company also has an internal Sustainable Seafood Policy (SSP) that guides its staff in the procurement and sale of seafood products. The SSP was developed in consultation with WWF-SASSI and is available for scrutiny at www.ij.co.za

It sets out clear guidelines with respect to product quality, It sets out clear guidelines with respect to product quality, safety, traceability, labelling and the education and training of I&J staff.

The WWF-SASSI Participation Scheme is an initiative that The WWF-SASSI Participation Scheme is an initiative that engages key role players in the seafood supply chain with the aim of transforming the landscape of the seafood industry in South Africa. The Scheme has been running since 2008 and currently engages with a number of South African retailers and suppliers.

Tel: 0800 210 279Email: [email protected]

Web: www.ij.co.za

I&J Consumer ServicesPrivate Bag X1Lyndhurst 2106Proud to be associated with uShaka

I&J SIGNS LANDMARK AGREEMENT WITH WWF-SASSI



holiday period we had The House of Fear, a spin-off on Halloween and our teenage and young adult market absolutely loved it.”

Fortunately for Durban’s residents and visitors alike there’s more to come.

Thompson says it is uShaka Marine World’s business to lead the way when it comes to thrills.

“We have to keep surprising our guests to keep them coming back for more. We pride ourselves on going all out to add new elements to our offering, to create new attractions and re-invest in the park. So in addition to adding fascinating attractions such as animal encounters, shark dives, the Ocean Walker and Meet a Dolphin, we created our Dangerous Creatures exhibit, which I’ve mentioned, and installed Africa’s largest jungle gym at uShaka Kids World.

“And pretty soon we’ll be installing the scintillating body tornado water slide which will be the fi rst of its kind in South Africa and an attraction that will put us on a par with the best in the world.”

The Tornado slide will join uShaka’s Plunge Freefall Slide, Kamikaze ride and the Drop Zone - Africa’s highest water slide.

Our passion for fun drives our photography, and isn’t that what it’s all about?

We have one of the most creative studios in Kwa-Zulu Natal region, being based within uShaka Marine World. Being part of an underwater world and being able to incorporate it into our photography is an incredible blessing. The people that we shoot and whom choose to do their portfolio with us get to share in this experience and we photograph many animals including dolphins, sharks, seals and penguins.

This makes the perfect backdrop to an awesome shoot. Let us show you to a magical place that allows us both as client and photographer to share in what others only dream of being part of. Our equipment ranges from underwater camera gear to professional lighting and studio facilities that allow you to express your look and feel and state of the art video and editing facilities allows us the opportunity to produce and create whatever your needs may be. Join us for the challenge and create your own commercial shoot, video, music video, portfolio or just your family shoot. Various packages allow us to be versatile and travel wherever you may need us.

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Official Photographic suppliers to uShaka Marine World Durban, South Africa

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“This is at the heart of why uShaka Marine World is Durban’s major attraction, especially in the all-important youth market.”

He says the aim of uShaka Marine World is to deliver an unmatched, fun experience to all its visitors.

The park has been rated “the Coolest, Fun Destination” in KZN over the past fi ve years by The Sunday Times Generation Next Survey.

“I think the park has now reached maturity in terms of phase 1,” Thompson says. “We’ve spent R50 million on upgrades over the last three years. Now, we have to look at a phase 2 and look at the next ten years. What’s exciting for me is the chance to look at a hard ride component - it could be a cable car, a giant Ferris wheel like the London Eye, an expansive zip line or a roller coaster. There are a couple of ideas I’ve been exploring over the last year

in terms of going into our upcoming strategy session and talking about the next phase in the park’s life cycle.

“Theme parks work on what’s called a recapitalization model which means that periodically you have incremental investments and smaller things to keep it fresh and maintained and then every major phase you have a signifi cant addition. Certainly in this next phase, the next ten-year cycle, we would look for a signifi cant addition.

“One signifi cant addition that’s under consideration is a crocodile enclosure including interacting with crocodiles and diving with them. That could be a very, very exciting addition from the Sea World side of things.

“The people of Durban have a lot to look forward to!”

The success at uShaka Marine World shows no sign of clamming up and it really is one of South Africa’s best days out. END

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