South Africa Awards Marketing Money to Six Tour Operators

Published on: September 14, 2009

As part of a new tourism marketing initiative called “Recipe for Success,” South Africa has selected six tour operators to receive $25,000 each to help promote the country in North America. Tour operators receiving the $25,000 grants included African Portfolio, based on Old Greenwich, Conn.; African Travel, in Glendale, Calif.; Ker & Downey, in Katy, Texas; Lion World Tours, in Toronto, Canada; Travel Beyond, in Wayzata, Minn.; and Travel4Golf, in Elk Grove, Calif. Operators were asked to focus their proposals specifically on South Africa's existing "Food, Wine and South African Tales" or "Adventurers Wanted" campaigns.

The contest asked operators to develop the most innovative ways of promoting South Africa as a leisure destination. Proposals were judged by a panel that included South African tourism officials and outside travel industry experts. They were evaluated based on the quality of the proposal, the breadth of elements used in the campaign, the tie-in to South Africa's marketing themes, adherence to South African tourism objectives and key measures, innovation that would make the country stand out as a destination and expected return on investment. The goal of the campaign is to increase arrivals, increase visitor spending, increase length of stay, improve provincial distribution of tourism, and develop packages that offer value for money. Key measures of the proposals submitted included expected number of bookings received from the campaign, expected growth in consumer and travel agent database, and increased engagement of consumers and travel agents. The competition was open to the top 50 tour operators for South Africa For more information on South Africa tourism, visit www.southafrica.net.