The Challenges of Marketing South Africa

South Africa is a large and diverse country, with exciting options for all different types of travelers. It has a good infrastructure, the vast majority of its residents speak English and it’s relatively inexpensive for American tourists.

Why, then, does the country struggle to attract more tourists from the United States? We spoke with Jack Fillery, owner of Tomjachu Bush Retreat, and Chris Godenir, General Manager of the Peninsula All-Suite Hotel, to get their thoughts on the issue.

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Fillery said that tourists readily come from the U.K., Germany, France, and Austria—as well as some of the smaller European countries like the Netherlands. He’s starting to get a few more South American travelers, which he thinks is a new market that's opening up quite a lot in South Africa.

“But I think for a large part, people from the United States tend to travel slightly differently than Europeans. It is more all-inclusive, and often not self-drive vacations. And for a resort like ours, self-drive is really our main model. We can organize transfers, but it's just easier when people find us and then will drive to us. We're not really as on-the-radar as we are with some of the European countries,” he said.

Godenir is quick to tout the advantages that his city (Cape Town) and country have.

“You've got such great variety of geography—the country, the winelands. The west coast is more arid, going through into the southern suburbs, which are almost like English countryside. Cape Town is very much more your Mediterranean sort of traditional sort of winter rains whereas your summers are really great. We will light the fireplaces and put heavy duvets on your beds in winter when we get those extremes coming through.”

Godenir feels that up until the last decade, Cape Town had been the sort destination of the elite—those people who had traveled the world, understand where they can get good value for money, and traveled on an overseas holiday once a year.

“Now, we're attracting more that sort of younger person; we’re a longer-term destination where either you're taking a couple of years off when you're young to go and see the world—or you've just finished working and you're taking some time out to go and travel. We're looking for those long haul stays amongst the young and the old,” he said.

As for Fillery, he thinks that while there are political challenges facing South Africa specifically, the economic and political volatility around the world creates uncertainty around spending on luxuries like long-distance travel.

“I think the more uncertainty economically there is in the world, the more the travel industry, in turn, will be affected by that. But having said that, I'm very positive about South Africa specifically. I think there's a huge amount to offer. The international perception of South Africa is starting to change, but it's mainly been focused on the Big 5 and Cape Town.”

“Those are the two things you hear about South Africa—and that's all you hear. An hour from here (Mbombela/Nelspruit) we've got the second biggest canyon in the world, the Blyde River Canyon. The biodiversity here goes way beyond the Big 5. We have a 500-hectare property here with 265 bird species and countless plant species. If you’re interested in nature and hiking and things like that, South Africa's got some of the best hiking trails in the world,” he said.

Fillery also listed extreme sports and wellness travel as fast-growing sectors in tourism that he sees South Africa as poised to capitalize on. After all, nature and wellness should ideally go hand-in-hand.

Godenir also said that he thinks his city’s openness will continue to lure travelers.

“I think Cape Town is very friendly to all sexual denominations, religion and so forth,” he said. “We really call ourselves a rainbow nation from that point of view. I think you'll find in South Africa that we're totally unprejudiced. There's no judgment; it really doesn't make any difference to us. You can come to this city and truly feel at home. From an infrastructural point of view, Africa is probably still an emerging country in its economy, but if you visit, you’ll find we have pretty much all the modern conveniences of the first world.”