Taking on the city and making a business out of it

NIA MAGOULIANITI-MCGREGOR

Laurice Taitz-Buntman, publisher and editor of Johannesburg In Your Pocket, heard that from a friend, and she says it’s stuck.

But, thanks partly to Taitz-Buntman’s informative city guide, Johannesburg’s personality is giving Bikini Babe more than a run for her money. The city itself, seemingly delighted to discover it has more than just business acumen to offer, is looking sexier, sounding cleverer and, yeh baby, feeling really groovy.

This new Johannesburg has edge. Renewed confidence. It has voomah and razzmatazz. It rocks without ever having to squeeze into a bikini.

And that’s helped it become a magnet for suitors – or tourists – who are eager to uncover the soul of this authentic yet bejewelled belle of the ball.

In this space, Taitz-Buntman’s has carved a niche for herself. She has single-handedly taken the Johannesburg tourism industry by storm. This, just a few short years after discovering the Moscow In Your Pocket on a visit to the city and, on finding it “clever, quirky and opinionated” buying the Johannesburg guide licence, and taking advantage of a rise in city tourism around the globe.

So, Taitz-Buntman morphed from travel writer to entrepreneur, the go-to girl with a guide for those who want to unzip the outer layer of a place and go beneath the surface. She caters to those travellers – whether in their late teens or in their 70s, whether locals or international tourists – who have an “appetite for discovery”. She now employs three fulltime people as well as extra designers.

Johannesburg In Your Pocket is available as an app, a printed guide you’ll find in hotels and airport lounges, (10 000 magazines are printed three times a year), on the website www.inyourpocket.com/johannesburg, and also via a weekly newsletter giving what’s-on coverage.

“I’ve always been passionate about how cities tell the stories about themselves. A city is a complex, organic entity. I’ve always felt Johannesburg has been underrepresented and misunderstood. It’s a hard city to get to know on your own – there’s an overwhelming perception of danger for one – so there was a big gap in the market,” says Taitz-Buntman.

She says the “traditional” tourism establishment fell behind in how they treated this city.“There was a perception that people only visited for business reasons, so there was a focus on the best conference centres and maybe taking in some wildlife in the Pilanesberg.”

But Taitz-Buntman grew up in Benoni and says the bright lights of Jozi beckoned pretty much as they did for Dorothy and the Emerald City. “Nothing’s changed. I’m still passionate about its energy, it’s quirky core, the beauty just beneath the grit.” And this is what she communicates in her guide.

Taitz-Buntman wouldn’t dream of advising tourists where to go without testing it out herself. Whether it’s a graffiti walking tour in the inner city, the amazing museums at Constitution Hill which shows, as she puts it, “the history of our darkest and brightest days”, or the chance to see the “underground” bars of the city, or perhaps Jewish historical tours, Taitz-Buntman puts on her walking shoes and becomes a tourist. “We test everything we promote.

“If the experience doesn’t measure up, we’re honest about it and will revisit when the glitches have been fixed. When you’re leading people around a city that can be untrustworthy, you have to be completely trustworthy.

“The best thing is that there is no end to my curiosity”’ she says. In fact, as much as she loves home, Taitz-Buntman says her favourite place is the airport “because it holds the promise of travel to a new destination”.

She says Johannesburg In Your Pocket is designed for both the mainstream traveller “seeking the expected and the adventurous traveller dreaming of the unexpected.

“It’s a mad city – I’m under no illusions – but its full of unexpected things, both good and bad. It’s wildly energetic and has a heartbeat you’ll never find in a seaside town. It also such an interesting, eclectic mix of people. And I truly believe, that if you don’t meet the people, you miss out on everything.

“We’re all tourists in the city. I hesitate to encourage safari-type tours. I believe in guiding people towards having immersive experiences – not about sending people on a bus to look at the locals. Meeting people gives tourists a sense of our generosity of spirit.”

She says the Jewish community is one that has helped shape the city.“We should take pride in that. We just haven’t quite negotiated where we fit in.”

Maria Malepa, co-owner of Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers, says Taitz-Buntman has filled an “important gap in promoting small establishments that are authentic and perhaps a bit alternative.

“She has an understanding of what we aim to do, she knows how to put herself in travellers’ shoes. She is an explorer. She likes to do what she writes about.”

Laura Vercueil, PR and communication manager for Johannesburg Tourism, describes Taitz-Buntman as “knowledgeable and passionate”.

“She provides a quality product that is well written and well researched, in an easy to read format that puts Johannesburg in a good light. Laurice has helped to popularise Johannesburg as a great destination.”

Vercueil says one of the organisation’s mandates is to leverage off business tourism to promote leisure tourism. “Laurice is one of the people we work alongside to help us do this.”

Of course, there’s no getting away from some of the city’s grim realities and tourists being attacked as happened recently has an impact on the entire industry. “Tourism is the canary in the mine. Whatever is wrong, must be fixed for everyone,” says Taitz-Buntman.

She firmly believes, that “the more information you have, the safer you are”.

She says we have a lot to learn from New York. “New York is a celebration of different cultures. Look at Brooklyn or Little Chinatown. They take pride in their diversity. We can do the same. Look at our Ethiopian district, new Chinatown, old Chinatown, Fordsburg, Mayfair…

“If everyone who landed here spent one extra night, our whole economy would shift.”

Johannesburg is a city that is still becoming, she says. “We have no idea what we will become. It’s constantly changing and re-energising. We are a pioneering kind of people.”

Of which Taitz-Buntman is an excellent example.