SA Tourism has revealed a ‘five in five’ marketing strategy aimed at increasing tourism numbers to our country by five million in the next five years, four million tourists to be international and one million domestic, reports SA Tourism Update.
Chief Marketing Officer of the tourism body, Margie Whitehouse, introduced the strategy at the recent SATSA Conference, saying: ‘We’re in the process of organisational review to look not only at best practice of DMOs, but of international companies as well, that work in the model that we do to see how best to structure ourselves. We’re working very hard with Treasury to convince them that we have the best economic case‘. The projected tourism growth is a 46% increase, with a target of 13 million international visitors to be achieved by 2021.
The first growth strategy is to evaluate the attractiveness of our country to international tourists, and the likelihood of long-haul travel. The tourism body will collaborate with industry bodies to obtain input on how the marketing budget should be spent. Second, the tourism body is looking at creating a consistent marketing message for brand South Africa, allowing a broader access to marketing material.
The third strategy will be to conduct international trade research, last conducted seven years ago. With this will be an evaluation of a more innovative way of spending the TOMSA levy. The development of marketing policies is the fourth strategy, which should be aimed at meeting the needs of the industry. The fifth strategy is ‘being inspired through South African Tourism’s people’.
Despite international arrivals increasing by 19% in the first half of 2016 relative to a year ago, and total arrivals increasing by 15% for the same period, SATSA CEO David Frost commented that our country’s ‘tourism growth has stagnated’.
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whalecottage.com/blog Tel 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook: click here Instagram: @Chris_Ulmenstein
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