Joburg Tourism Company’s (JTC) Destination Marketing Manager, Lumka Dlomo, is synonymous with making Johannesburg a leading tourism attraction. She has a dedicated team behind her, and together they are reviving tourism in Joburg. Lumka is responsible for creating strategies that will deliver positive results in attracting visitors to grow the City’s economy, drive campaigns, and build and maintain stakeholder relations. As a destination marketing manager, she can receive calls about visitors landing at the airport to assist in setting up an itinerary to experience Joburg in all its glory, including emergencies or incidents at the City’s attractions.
She also makes room for unexpected calls from international brands who would like to partner with the City.
“Destination marketing is not easy territory, it comes with its challenges,” she says.
There are also good things. She says she is fortunate to have a job that exposes her to new experiences and allows her to travel.
One thing is clear, it is not easy to dim her optimism. “We love getting positive feedback from travelers. The negative gives you an opportunity to grow. To do right and identify gaps.”
Lumka studied hotel management and had a good stint in the hospitality industry before joining JTC in 2007 as an International Business Tourism Executive followed by a Marketing Assistant role, where her portfolio expanded immensely and prepared her for her current role.
A career highlight for her includes growing small events into bigger events like the Makhelwane Festival and the City’s contribution to Joy of Jazz.
Another highlight she is proud of was when she approached film producers to challenge them to change the script of Johannesburg to showcase the City from different angles, as a place where people come to work, find love, or start families.
Another milestone was when she was announced as the winner of the 2017 Top 100 Women in Tourism in Africa Award.
Her optimism is contagious, and she always faces challenges head-on. She believes no man is an island and her leadership mantra is: “If you want to go fast, go alone if you want to go far, go together.
I wouldn’t have achieved all these things if I were alone and without support from subordinates and stakeholders.”
Lumka hails from the Eastern Cape, and she is the eldest of nine siblings.
Her late father, Thanduxulo, was her role model. “I believe in service. And I think I got it from my father, who was a policeman. I watched him serve people in the community back then. I saw how he was dedicated to serving.”
She considers her mother, Nosipho, her hero for raising her and her siblings after her father’s passing.
Lumka enjoys travelling. She has been to places like France, Argentina, Brazil, China, Italy, Russia, South Korea, Germany, Tokyo, and Switzerland. In Africa, she has traveled to Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, Angola, Swaziland, Botswana, and Lesotho. Next, she would like to visit Greece.
As much as she loves travelling, she also loves to come home to samp and beans, a meal she always misses when she is abroad.
When she is not working or traveling, she enjoys spending time with family, reading, and pampering herself.
As a parting shot, she says it’s exciting times for tourism in Joburg. Tourism numbers will continue to grow, and the City will be planted in people’s minds, and she wishes every Joburg business would grow from strength to strength.
She is also working on starting her own training platform to encourage young ones to see tourism as not only for elites but for everyone.
Written by Brümilda Swartbooi
SOURCED FROM THE CITY’S WEBSITE.
