South African Tourism’s 2022 performance and 2023 plans by Ms. Neliswa Nkani

South African Tourism’s 2022 performance and 2023 plans by Ms. Neliswa Nkani

Ms. Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – MEISEA, South African Tourism talked about achievements in 2022 – how the tourism board successfully surpassed their annual target of attracting 33,910 Indian arrivals to South Africa. She also elaborated on Tourism Board’s plans and expectations for the new year.

Quote on how 2022 was for South African Tourism

“We are extremely delighted and humbled with the reception destination South Africa has been receiving from Indian travellers. We are also grateful to the trade fraternity for their support and conviction in the brand that enables us to roll out offbeat and value-for-money itineraries. We started this year by outlining a strategic roadmap which helped us successfully garner a 64% YoY increase in Indian visitors to South Africa. Our efforts to showcase the diversity and value proposition of destination South Africa have helped us surpass our annual target of attracting 33,910 Indian arrivals to South Africa. Our media, trade and marketing efforts have helped us stay top-of-mind and excite Indian audiences. Interest and enquiries for destination South Africa, especially from Indian businesses and leisure travellers have multiplied since the start of our recovery campaign More&More which rolled out in the first quarter of 2022. This was followed by a 4-city Roadshow in India and multi-city experiential consumer, corporate and trade activations. We also hosted Indian travel media to INDABA 2022 – Africa’s largest travel trade show to familiarize them with various offerings of the destination & efforts being taken to create & sustain traveller intent to visit. In May, we concluded yet another highly successful association with South Asia’s leading travel show, SATTE 2022. To support our value-for-money proposition, in July, we announced the launch of an exclusive India airfare campaign in partnership with Air Seychelles. To have a greater impact and recall with Indian consumers, we hosted Indian influencers to the destination this month to create ‘desi’ content which we will start rolling out in the coming year.”

Quote on 2023 expectations

“As we gear up for the new year, South African Tourism will continue to proactively and meaningfully engage with its travel trade partners and tour operators to boost tourism and Indian visitor arrivals to South Africa. We will be constantly communicating with key travel agents and tour operators directly through interactive knowledge exchange webinars, while also conveying timely and focused destination updates. We plan to keep upskilling and reskilling the travel trade fraternity to identify synergies that help them sell South Africa in the best way possible to the new-age Indian consumer.

We are delighted to announce that in February 2023, South African Tourism will be participating at SATTE for the third year running. This will be followed by our biggest travel trade initiative in India – the annual Roadshow across several Indian cities and the second edition of our experiential consumer activation in New Delhi. These trade and consumer activations will showcase the destination’s new and diverse offerings in the run-up to the 30-year anniversary of SA-India bilateral ties. Travelling to the Indian cities of Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, the tourism board will showcase their products and services while actively engaging and networking with Indian travel and trade associates.

We anticipate a large number of footfalls from India as our travel trade partners are already seeing an upswing in enquiries for destination South Africa. In collaboration with our province partners, we are taking conscious efforts towards promoting sustainable and rural tourism, in an effort to give back to the local communities and local economy. We have also diversified the way we sell South Africa to appeal to the core passions of Indian travellers. With highly customized and personalized itineraries, we are looking at mobilising niche communities like biking groups, runners, and golfers.”