Tourism consultant Mike Gold recently argued in the Mail & Guardian that tourists to South Africa from the rest of the African continent are of little economic significance as they are more likely to be job-seekers than big-spenders (“Why tourism will not take off”, November 21). He could not be more wrong.
Visitors from Africa have been described as the backbone of South Africa’s tourism economy, as they comprise the majority of all foreign tourism arrivals to this country. SA Tourism CEO Cheryl Carolus drives home the point: “The economic impact of tourism from, and between, South Africa’s neighbours is of inestimable importance and it is crucial that we work together to maintain an increase in tourist arrivals in the Southern African Development Community region.”
Last year 72% of all tourists to South Africa came from the African continent. Statistics from the same year indicate that in terms of direct spend, air travellers from other African countries were worth R4-billion to us, while the direct spend of those who travelled here by land was R18,8-billion.
To put these figures in perspective, the United States portfolio was worth R4-billion, while the entire European portfolio was worth R16-billion in direct spend.
This is explained by the fact that African visitors spend more money on shopping and entertainment, while their European counterparts contribute more towards air fares and accommodation.
Departure surveys conducted by SA Tourism’s strategic research unit indicate that about half of all Africans who visit South Africa do so for business purposes. The rest come on holiday or to visit friends and relatives.
SA Tourism’s strategic focus on Africa is, therefore, more complex than simply growing volume. Marketing activities on the continent are designed to extract further value from the existing visitors by “up-selling” and “cross-selling” into other product areas.
SA Tourism, in partnership with government departments, has launched a border post initiative to address some of the barriers hampering cross-border travel in the Southern African region, including visas, import duties, border controls and safety, and to promote the idea that offering visitors a welcoming hand is the first step to ensuring that South Africa is seen as a the region’s favoured tourist destination.
The Lebombo border post, between Mozambique and Mpumalanga, was chosen for the pilot project, together with a number of other points of entry on the borders of Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
The tourism growth strategy has identified Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and parts of West Africa, the Indian Ocean islands and parts of the Middle East as being of tactical importance in increasing tourism to South Africa.
Research into these African markets has indicated the consumer segments that will yield a higher return on investment. These include self-employed business people, expatriate communities and an emerging group that travels purely for leisure.
A campaign launched in Kenya in October, for example, highlighted South Africa’s shopping, leisure and business opportunities. Packages incorporating these experiences have been designed, with the goal of encouraging business visitors to extend their stay.
“We are committed to fulfilling our mandate, to take the benefits of the growth of tourism to all South Africans through sustainable gross domestic product growth, sustainable job creation and promoting transformation and redistribution in our economy,” says Carolus.
She says this can be achieved through SA Tourism’s six key objectives: working to increase foreign tourist volumes, spend, length of stay and geographic spread, addressing the issues of seasonality and encouraging industry transformation.
SA Tourism works closely with organisations such as the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa in an effort to strengthen regional cooperation.
Also, recognising the benefits of spreading tourist spend across the region, the industry is packaging the region as a whole. The creation of cross-border Peace Parks has played a pivotal role in promoting intra-regional travel.
The strategy is paying dividends. In contrast to most of the rest of the world, South Africa achieved an overall growth of about 11% last year, with very significant growth from the African market.
Welsh Mjekula is SA Tourism’s general manager, global communications and publications