South African Tourism begins 2018 with the 15th edition of its biggest travel trade initiative in India. South African Tourism’s Roadshow will be in Bangalore on 15th February, 2018. The 60-member South African Tourism trade delegation is a reflection of the strong consumer demand witnessed from India which, is currently the 8th largest international source market for South African Tourism. This roadshow will capitalise on the growing demand and align efforts to meet the evolving demands of the Bangalore traveller.
This unique interactive platform has been developed with an aim to offer for trade partners in Bangalore an opportunity to interact and educate on diverse product offerings and experiences from South Africa. In addition to experiences, accommodation establishments, destination management companies, airlines, tourism associations will form part of the trade partners in the roadshow. Not only does it provide the perfect opportunity to showcase this exciting destination it also helps tap into the local market intelligence residing with the trade fraternity. These B2B engagement act as catalysts for booking conversions which stimulate visitor growth hence, contribute to achieving the targets charted out for 2018. Nearly 200 travel agents from Bangalore met up with 60 South African suppliers to better align efforts and address the ever evolving demands of the Indian traveller.
South Africa is the perfect destination for the well-travelled Indian with its variety of distinctive attractions, unforgettable experiences, world-class facilities and excellent infrastructure. It attracts both luxury as well as budget travelers. Bangalore is amongst South African Tourism’s top 5 geographical source markets in India. 2018 is slated to be all about experiences with demand for adventure travel from the Bangalore market steadily increasing with a visible shift from ‘seeing’ to ‘experiencing’. South Africa is a perfect destination for such an audience as it has a wide range of activities to offer in close proximity. With over 300 adventure activities and 3000 activity providers, South Africa is undoubtedly the adventure capital of the world. The country has options across shark-cage diving, zip lining, bungee jumping, quad-biking, horseback safaris, mountain biking, river rafting – and just about any other extreme sport you can name, and all supported by dedicated and authorized operators. South Africa’s diverse terrain, together with an ideal climate for outdoor activities, makes it a treat for adrenaline seekers and adventure sports lovers. The Rainbow Nation offers a mix of varied soft and hard-core adventure activities. It is here that travelers can enjoy an action-packed itinerary without having to look too far.
Keeping some of these consumer trends in mind, one of the key focus areas is to go beyond the immensely popular Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg & surrounds and Kruger National Park and create awareness about new destinations such Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and the Drakensberg region. These are picturesque areas where travelers can pack in a lot of action into shorter time-spans.
“The Indian market has not just grown considerably since our entry in 2005, demands of Indian travellers are in a constant and rapid state of evolution even today. This makes cross sharing of insights, trends and observations between our Indian and South African partners extremely crucial. We have had South African products being tailored to suit these specific needs as a testament of the value proposition we see in the market,” stated Ms. Hanneli Slabber, Regional General Manager, Asia/Australasia/Middle East, South African Tourism.
2017 proved to be a successful year for South African Tourism who managed to keep its performance consistent to that of 2016. This is encouraging in light of the overall challenges faced by the Indian tourism industry which was recovering from the effects of demonetization and GST. In addition to visitor arrival numbers, in-destination spends remained stable while length of stay by Indians saw a positive spike.
For the period of Jan 2017 to September 2017, MICE contributed 32.8% of total Indian arrivals into South Africa, leisure holidays made up 26.8% while business travellers made up 16.4% and VFR was at 16%. Another significant observation was the rise in millennial Indian travellers to South Africa. In the first quarter for 2017, nearly 35% of the Indian visitor base comprised of 35 year olds while, for the second quarter of the year, this pie grew to 46%. In 2017, Bangalore contributed 8% to the overall Indian arrivals to South Africa.
Commenting on the Roadshow in India, Ms. Alpa Jani, Acting Hub-Head, Middle East/India/South East Asia, South Africa Tourism said, “We have always recorded an outstanding response from the Indian travel trade and are eagerly looking forward to seeing the positive impact this Roadshow will have towards driving Indian traveller traffic to South Africa in 2018. India is undoubtedly a significant market for us and all trade and consumer efforts are directed towards harnessing the true potential this market has to offer. We are also focusing on customizing our engagements and product offerings to suit the unique requirements of the Bangalore market.”
