On the first day of Indaba 2018 in Durban, representatives from South African Tourism spoke with U.S. and Canadian media about various initiatives to further increasing visitor numbers from these respective countries, within certain sectors and through tying around a major centennial.
At a private meeting at Africa's largest travel trade show, Sthembiso Dlamini, chief operations officer; Bangu Masisi, president of the board's North American division; and Dinky Kgoale Malikane, regional global manager, Americas, sat with journalists to discuss targeted audience campaigns, locally and abroad. They also chatted about plans for commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela.
Dlamini started off the conversation by commenting the importance of the U.S. and Canadian media and travel trade, in that numerical data from 2017 showed an excess of about 350,000 arrivals from both countries. Thus, Dlamini said the outcome led to a rethinking "as to how we are actually going to increase our presence in the two markets; how to ensure that we will increase the reach of people to know about the destination from both a leisure point of view and a business events point of view."
Three specific audiences were mentioned. First, the board wants to tap more into the African American market. "We felt that there's an importance for us to actually focus on that segment as well and find the opportunities that lie in there as well," Dlamini said. As part of this focus, South African Tourism will welcome its second Afropunk Festival in Johannesburg on New Year's Eve and its third year of the ESSENCE Festival in Durban.
Another area of concentration is the LGBTQ community, in terms of preparing South Africa as a host destination. "Because South Africa is known for its diversity, its welcoming," Dlamini said, "that we actually want to be known to lead in that space, that we want to take advantage of the LGBTQ community and welcome them, both in our destination for both business events and leisure."
The third area, in particular with America, is group travel or the incentive market. While South African Tourism has a convention bureau focusing on MICE, Dlamini said: "as a market, we said we need to have a much more focused approach to tap into the incentive market and win in that section."
While aiming to increase international arrivals, Dlamini noted that this potential growth will tie into increasing job opportunities for South Africans; she cited the current employment rate at 26 percent.
"Our new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, challenged all of us to say one of the low-hanging fruits to grow the economy of this country is tourism," she said. "And through growing tourism, we can double employment."
Nelson Mandela Centenary Celebration
South African Tourism said that one thing resulting from a recent business meeting in New York that came out very strong is how do we then leverage the opportunities of the Mandela centennial in getting more US and Canadian travelers.
About Mandela, Dlamini said that he "is not just a South African icon, he's a global icon."
As part of a Mandela Centenary Celebration, South African Tourism and the Nelson Mandela Foundation partnered in creating an app initiative to offer South Africans and visitors an experiential look at Mandela. Approximately 100 locations linked to Mandela's life (such as his imprisonment at Robben Island) and impact are featured on Madiba's Journey App, (with its title referring to Mandela's Xhosa clan name, Madiba). The app is said to allow users to view these attractions on a map, build itineraries and share their journeys on social media; each location on the app is linked to audio, text and image galleries.
The tourism board also announced that President Barack Obama will deliver the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on July 17, a day before Nelson Mandela International Day, at the Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg. Its theme will be "Renewing the Mandela Legacy and Promoting Active Citizenship in a Changing World."
Questions about Safety and Water Shortage
Dlamini, Masisi, and Malikane also answered inquiries from the media on various subjects.
Asked about safety for LGBTQ travelers, Dlamini mentioned a local campaign called "We Do Tourism," launched in 2017, aimed at having ordinary locals understand that they "play an important role" in making a tourist feel welcome. "It focuses more on South Africans being able to welcome everybody in their diversity," said Dlamini. (Masisi also pointed out that South Africa hosted the IGLTA 2016 Conference.)
About the concern over water shortage being reported in Cape Town, their response spoke about water management initiatives such as educating communities about water conservation and changing behaviors in household usage.
One point brought up was the length of flight time for North American travelers to get to South Africa, in that it might seem to be a deterrent. "We know that some people say that it's too far to get here," said Malikane, about being on Africa's Southernmost tip. "Once you get here, we promise you that life will never be the same. Because at the core of this destination is the people."
The South Africa Tourism reps also pointed out offerings ranging from safari and wine production, to lux accommodations and nightlife; additionally, South Africa has 11 official languages. "When you are here, you will feel like you are in multiple countries just in one country," said Dlamini.
In summing up the overall experience of seeing South Africa, Masisi said, "Once you pop, you can't stop."
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