Speaking to TTG in London at an event celebrating the nation’s culture and cuisine on Thursday (16 June), Rachel Lewis, campaign and partnership manager, said two trade educationals would be held this year.
10 UK agents will visit Cape Town in September, with the fam originally due to take place in 2021 but postponed due to Covid, while the second trip with the same number of agents will also head to Cape Town in November.
South African Tourism will also launch a new marketing campaign targeted at UK visitors later this year.
Live Our South Africa invites travellers to interact more with local residents and local businesses when they travel to drive money into the domestic economy.
Kgomotso Ramothea, marketing and promotions manager, said the campaign’s aim was to encourage travellers to avoid "staying at a chain hotel, eating at one restaurant, and travelling around using tour buses".
"We want people to see the country on foot, by bike, support the local businesses, not only the independent restaurants but also places where you can buy gifts and trinkets," said Ramothea.
Lewis added: "We interpret sustainability as conservation and community. If you look at global poverty from the 1970s onwards, a lot of that has decreased and that is to do with connectivity. We want to drive poverty reduction and benefit the people who live in these destinations."
Lewis explained when on previous trade trips, agents had been given a cash allowance and sent to experience local markets, so their money would benefit four or five local businesses.
South African Tourism will look to increase its number of local guides on the ground to be involved with its Live Our South Africa initiative.
Ramothea explained how the tourism agency was aiming to recover UK visitor figures back to 2019 levels of 430,000. The country has already seen a boost based on March 2022 figures of 25,000 UK visitors compared to 1,700 in March 2021.
"If we can sustain that level of increase, talk to tour operators, launch our campaigns, we think from October onwards we’re going to see about 80% of the arrivals we were seeing in 2019. We’re seeing really positive feedback," Ramothea said.
