Indian visitor numbers to South Africa have surged 21.7 per cent during 2016 to close at an arrivals figure of 95, 377 and 8th position among SA’s international source markets.
The previous year saw 78,385 arrivals and 2017 is set to be busy and action-packed as the NTO has a target of 104,000 to achieve. Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, SA Tourism in India said, “Next year’s figure implies a tremendous growth. It will mean intense and aggressive promotions coupled with a focus on new markets across geography and demographics.”
Promotional plans for the current year include sustained efforts in areas that South Africa has been focusing on in the past such as joint promotions with travel agents and customer outreach through outdoor media, television, digital, print and of late, social.
In terms of geographic markets, South African tourism plans to engage potential travellers in Tier II markets through the agent-specific Learn South Africa programme which will train travel agents in 17 Indian cities during July 2017. The tourism board plans to train focus and customise for travellers in these cities with city-specific joint promotions with travel agents in all 17 chosen cities. Demographically too, South African Tourism is also keen on targeting younger globe-trotters given that India has a sizeable proportion of young population aged 18-35, some of whom form today’s market and some of whom will form the travel markets of the near future.
Slabber said, “Additionally besides the staples like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore all of which make a strong contribution to arrivals, our B2B roadshow will travel to Kolkata and Ahmedabad in January 2018.”
Travellers are also being encouraged to return to the rainbow nation for second and third holidays. Additionally, South African Tourism’s this year are going to be focussed on smaller coastal towns as picturesque areas where travellers can pack in a lot of action into shorter time-spans. “We will train travel agents and also create demand and awareness for these smaller towns in the consumer space,” said Slabber.
She added, “We look forward to an exciting year! January’s arrival figures are out and we welcomed about 6,300 Indian travellers – we look forward to very high numbers during the summer holiday season running from now until Mid-June.”
