Durban Tourism’s winter campaign, Durban’s July Grand Experience, featuring the Vodacom Durban July, was launched on Friday, 18 June, live on international broadcaster, CNBC Africa in the presence of the mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, and a collection of racing, fashion and tourism industry leaders.
Gold Circle Racing, owners of the Vodacom Durban July, expressed their pride in partnering with Vodacom and the city of Durban to stage the 125th running of Africa’s greatest horse race to be held on 3 July. The event is part of Durban Tourism’s greater campaign to assist the tourism sector’s economic recovery from the ongoing effects that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused. It is the race that every owner, trainer, jockey, groom or breeder wants to win. This year’s race is building up to be one of the best fields assembled in many years. The final field will be announced at 1pm on 22 June on Tellytrack, DSTV channel 249. It is expected that Rainbow Bridge, the country’s highest-rated horse, Got The Greenlight (second last year) and the current ruling favourite for this year, Belgarion, last year’s champion, Do it Again, dual champion in 2018 and 2019, as well as leading three-year-olds, Linebacker and War Of Athena, will all be among the final field announced on Tuesday.
The gallops will be broadcast on Tellytrack from 7am on Thursday, 24 June, and will give the public one last chance to decide who their fancy for this year’s race will be. A central pillar of the Vodacom Durban July experience is celebrating South African fashion – from the top international designers to the race-day general public. In 2021, this is again being done through a range of programmes produced in collaboration with the city of Durban including the VDJ Young Designers Award, the DFF Rising Stars Collection and the VDJ Invited Designers Showcase. These programmes have a massive impact in providing vital promotion and business opportunity to all levels of the fashion industry and designer community. Although the #VDJ2021 race day is once again being staged behind closed doors, the Vodacom Durban July and Gold Circle are again working closely with the city of Durban and Durban Fashion Fair to capture and broadcast the VDJ Fashion Experience collections to audiences at home through a series of pop-up fashions shoots staged in iconic destination settings.
Shot by internationally-renowned fashion photographer, Sean Laurenz, these images and footage will be used as feature social media content across VDJ’s social media platforms as well as potentially in other national television broadcasts. The full range of VDJ collections will also be shown live to the public at the 2021 Vodacom Durban July Fashion Showcase, a special Covid-19 compliant fashion extravaganza to be staged at Gateway Theatre of Shopping on 29 June. EThekwini mayor, Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, said: “Rebuilding tourism and hosting events during this period requires innovation. If visitors cannot experience our tourism products physically, they should be able to participate virtually. This is the commitment we made when we launched the Economic Recovery Plan, to revive sectors adversely affected by Covid-19.” He said Durban is ready to host visitors for the VDJ Grand Experience. “We are working hard to ensure there is tourism activity which is critical for the local economy while emphasising strict adherence to health regulations. We have also identified sport as vital to positioning Durban as a preferred venue for international events.”
Chris Lazarus, managing executive for Vodacom in Kwazulu-Natal, spoke passionately about the purpose-led project around this prestigious event. “Vodacom is concerned to learn that there are a number of students at fashion colleges in the KwaZulu-Natal region who have not been able to get their qualifications due to outstanding student debts. As the excitement builds for the Vodacom Durban July, we are pleased to announce that Vodacom is working closely with the fashion team at Gold Circle to identify deserving students from the Class of 2020 that we will help get over the finishing line. Vodacom will be giving students the opportunity to not be bogged down with their debt, but rather to make their dreams take flight,” said Lazarus. This year marks the 20th year with Vodacom as title sponsor of this iconic event and whilst there will be no public sale of tickets, official broadcaster DSTV will be covering the event in full HD from 1pm to 4pm on Supersport 4 (channel 204).
