After many years of tourist domination from the United Kingdom for South Africa, German tourists have become the number one source of tourism during the current as well as the 2011/2012 tourist season, as the recession in the UK continues to depress tourist arrivals to Cape Town from the UK.
At the world’s largest tourism expo and conference ITB (Internationale Toerismus-Boerse), which ends today, Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk opened the South Africa stand earlier this week, and said that the work that SA Tourism is doing in traditional markets, and in Europe specifically, is paying off, with a growth in tourism numbers, giving ‘us confidence that the work we are doing to grow tourist arrivals is paying dividends’, reports Business Day.
Earlier this week tourist arrivals were reported to have increased by 10,4% between January – October 2012 relative to the same period twelve months prior. German tourists increased by 12% to 204000 in the same period, while tourism to our country grew from 6,8 million to 7,5 million. Minister Van Schalkwyk also thanked the tourist industry for ‘creatively and constructively working together to grow tourism to South Africa. It is also important that we ensure that every new tourist who arrives in our country is given the best possible experience, as word of mouth remains one of our most important marketing tools’.
At Whale Cottage one quarter to a third of all our guests are repeat visitors, benefiting from the free 11th night offered by our Whale Cottage Loyalty Card, and past guests recommending us to their friends and family. Our stats for Whale Cottage Camps Bay show that 60% of our February guests were South Africans, 15 % German, and only 7% were from the UK (in the past the UK guests used to make up close to 50% of our summer guests). Germany, the UK, and the USA remain the top three international tourism source countries, SA Tourism says. SA Tourism Germany is intensifying its marketing programs, focusing on tour operators in Germany, and is working with travel agents on a one-on-one basis to educate them about South Africa.
Whilst at ITB, Minister van Schalkwyk participated in a joint discussion, with 32 other long-haul destinations (including Australia, New Zealand, Seychelles, Singapore, and the Caribbean), about the ‘discriminatory‘ ‘excessive’ taxes that some (unmentioned) European countries are levying on flights from long-haul destinations relative to short flights. Long-haul flights could see a 3-5% price increase, which could impact on passenger numbers and tourist volumes in long-haul destinations, affecting the competitiveness of these destinations, and impacting on employment in these countries. Minister van Schalkwyk had initiated the long-haul discussions. ‘We therefore call on those countries involved to reconsider these excessive, discriminatory taxes that adversely affect long-haul destinations, including many developing economies’, a joint communiqué said. Van Schalkwyk was particularly critical of the original introduction of what was meant to be a ‘green tax’, but these monies are no longer being re-invested for environmental purposes.
The growth in German tourists offers opportunities to communicate with this valuable target market in German, both face-to-face and in writing, but also in terms of signage and tourism collateral. Offering German TV channels such as ZDF or ARD is an advantage. The older tourists, many being pensioners who have the time and disposable income to travel, are not very proficient in English, and prefer to stay in German-friendly accommodation establishments.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
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Very interesting to read your stats and encouraging to see ow much the South African market has gown. Do you believe this is due to more South Africans starting to travel within their own country due to exchange rates making it prohibitive to travel overseas or that people are becoming more aware of the beauty on their own doorstep?
Living here in Germany I can certainly relate to the increasing trend for Germans to visit SA. It is indeed widely marketed here and the word of mouth scenario definitely works. I find many of my students have visited SA, are building houses there and return regularly for holidays. There is little doubt the power of the Euro helps but has you rightly point out there are many retirees who not only like to travel but have a high disposable income. Definitely this group with their lack of English speaking skills does open An opportunity for more people to consider learning German to assist in an extremely lucrative market. That said I would point out that there are a high percentage of older people who are making an effort to improve their English speaking skills as is proven by people I meet here. It is so encouraging to see the increased business between SA and Germany but SAA need to get their act together in terms of pricing. All flights ex Munich to Johannesburg and ultimately to Cape Town are vastly more expensive than Lufthansa. However Munich residents are loathe to fly to Frankfurt to connect onto the cheaper Lufthansa flights as it increases the journey time considerably. Something that seriously needs to be looked at. Condor goes a LNG way to encouraging the market between the two countries but again these flights are not originating out of Munich which has the wealthiest travel market in the country situated right here in Bavaria.
Food for thought.
Apologies for the typo errors in previous comment. At times I find iPad takes over!
Thank you for your interesting feedback Frances, right at the source, so to speak!
The visible marketing of SA is good news, and is not seen by us here. Do you no longer live in France?
The air fares are a major deterrent, as you rightly point out, as is the flying and waiting time.
Chris
Chris
I split my time between France and Germany but at present have considerably more work in Munich 🙂 so I go with the flow as they say!
Wow – what number of visitors came from the UK and how much of a drop is it?
The UK visitor numbers were not mentioned specifically in the media coverage Brandon, which focused on Germany, the tourism stats having been announced at ITB in Berlin last week.
Chris
Thanks Chris. I’ve now read the Business Day article but I did not see it saying Germany was the No1 source of tourism for SA. It quoted the Department of Tourism as saying “Germany was one of the key traditional overseas markets for travel to South Africa, with the US and the UK at the top of the pile”
Looking at the published statistics (http://www.southafrica.net/uploads/files/Tourists_Table_A_OCT2012_(1).pdf), the UK remains No1 with 350,000 for the same period in question (albeit only a 5% increase on the previous year) and the USA at No2 at 275,000 (a remarkable jump of 14.6%).
These all seem like good figures considering the economic situation in Europe and the US
I did not write that SA Tourism said that German tourists are the number one source of international tourists Brandon – they said that German tourism is the fastest growing of the European countries.
Our stats show that the German tourists are the number one international source, as I illustrated in the blogpost. I am surprised by the SA Tourism stats for the UK – are they Johannesburg businessmen (not getting to the Cape), are they in transit going to other African countries (but classified as tourists by SA Tourism), or are they swallows with their own homes?
Chris
Sorry Chris but I differ. Your headline says “Germany takes over as top travel country to South Africa!”
Your article goes on to say that “German tourists have become the number one source of tourism”
I am sure you would not suggest that your analysis of your Camps Bay guests for February is sufficient to give an accurate snapshot of the countrywide position.
It is not for me to defend the basis of the statistics from SA Tourism – I am quoting them because it is clear that that the figures being quoted for Germany in the Business Day article are a direct lift from the SA Tourism stats and therefore the same questions about Jo’burg businessmen, people in transit and swallows also apply to those figures.
Exactly Brandon.
I have not based the observation only on February 2013, but have seen it coming since the start of summer 2011, and have reported on this regularly on my blog.
The UK stats show one thing, but they are not visible as tourists, not just in my guest houses but also in the hospitality industry, hence my question in my previous reply to you as to where the UK persons are going/staying?
You have changed the tack of your comment now – in your previous comment, you were critical of me implying that SA Tourism said that German tourists are now the number one source – I deny that I have written or implied that they have said that. It is my observation as a tourism operator.
Chris
Chris, I have no idea where the UK tourists are going but because they are not supporting the Whale Cottage Portfolio or crossing your path does not mean that they do not come.
Are you suggesting that a higher percentage of UK arrivals are business people (who incidentally will still be using our hotels, restaurants and contributing to our economy) or swalllows (who will be paying rates, possibly employing locals, spending in restaurants and shops and possibly doing some local vacations in SA) than would be the case with German arrivals?
Who else supports your conclusion that Germany is now the No1 source of tourists for SA? – SA Tourism does not and you have given a reasonable amount of coverage to their statistics as well as your own “feel” for the situation on the ground.
We may need to agree to disagree
This is becoming tedious Brandon, and I get the feeling you are desperate to prove me wrong.
I have tried to explain to you that in addition to my own guest house experience in the past 23 months, plus my reading of Tweets, my chats to restaurant owners, and other tourism business owners, as well as sitting in restaurants and walking in the V&A where almost all you hear is German being spoken, is that the Germans are the largest number of tourists in the Cape. SA Tourism is providing national stats. Hence my question as to where the UK guests are staying, if they are coming to the Cape at all?
Chris
Not desperate – I just wanted a fair chance to get you to acknowledge that perhaps you have it wrong or that it is not quite as it seems from the people that you know.
In a recent Daily Telegraph piece asking 3 concierges (Steenberg, M Nelson and Ellerman House) to give recommendations for visits to Cape Town, 2 of them recommended avoiding the V&A – perhaps that message had already reached UK visitors. It is very easy to identify German being spoken whilst walking around, but despite having lived in the UK for many years, I don’t walk around assessing whether the English being spoken is SA, English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish (Northern to be specific).
However, this is tedious and therefore we have one area of common ground.
Agree Brandon.
I don’t know what your interest is in the tourism industry, but you will know that mine is hands-on, day to day, 24/7/365!
Chris
On my recent visit, both BA flights were full, both inbound & on return. On the return over 30 passengers were bumped, with a wait of 3 days.
The main reasons that UK visitor numbers are down are:
(1) because of SAA’s crass decision to cancel it’s LHR-CPT service &
(2) the probably illegal action of the SA Government in refusing to allow UK charter airlines to operate into SA.
Cape Town is hardly the busiest airport in SA. I guess that’s why it’s my world’s favourite.
Thank you for your hands-on feedback Nick.
I’m still wondering where all the UK tourists are staying, if the flights are so full.
You raise valid issues about the UK market – the on-going recession obviously must play a role too.
Chris