Tag Archives: Germans

Germans love travelling to South Africa and drinking its wines!

Whilst our tourism authorities and wine producers are actively chasing the BRICS markets, and thereby neglecting the traditional source markets of the UK, USA and Europe in their marketing, it was a welcome surprise to read in the past week that German tourists are loving South Africa as a tourism destination, as well as enjoying drinking its wines.

Cape Business News reported that the number of German tourists increased by 10% between January and November 2011 to reach 211000, Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk stating that Germany is the third largest tourism source country, ‘contributing 9% of GDP through tourist spend’. The Minister also said that 40 % of the German visitors had been to South Africa before, a high repeat visitor number and ‘testifies to the attractiveness of our destination’.

The Minister was speaking at the 46th ITB (Internationale Tourismusbörse), the world’s largest travel trade show with 170000 leisure visitors and 108000 trade visitors exposed to 10000 exhibitors from around the world over a five day period.  He added that the German tourist market ‘is one of the most valuable in the world’.  German tourists are increasingly price sensitive in their choice of travel destination, and seek meaningful holiday experiences, in not only seeing beautiful scenery, but to also leave a lasting legacy through their visit.  SA Tourism is working hard at marketing our country in Germany, having signed 17 joint marketing agreements with all the top German tour operators, and trained more than 2000 trade operators to encourage sales.

At ITB a number of tourism trends were evident, reports Cape Town Tourism, including:

*   International travellers are taking shorter holiday trips, for nine days on average.

*   ‘Germany is the most economically optimistic country in the Eurozone and German travelers (sic) are positive in their travel prospects’, says the oddly worded media release. Given zero growth in the UK travel market, Germany may overtake the UK as South Africa’s major source market this year.

*   ‘Travel bloggers are gaining recognition as one of the most credible sources of online travel information’, and the organisation writes that it will host the four most influential international travel bloggers later this year.

*   Half of all bookings are made on-line, with travel agents making up less than one-third

The Drink Tank reported last week that South African wine exports to Germany reached the number one slot in January, for the first time overtaking the UK market.  South African wine exports to Germany reached 81 million litres, a 13 % increase, now slightly ahead of the UK’s 80,9 million litres.  UK wine imports dropped by 23 % internationally in the past year.  China showed the largest increase in South African wine sales, by 17% in total, and by 66% in bottle sales, and has reached the 10th position in wine imports.  South African wine sales to Kenya and Nigeria are also showing good growth.  Bulk wine imports (for bottling in the import country, usually to save transport costs) have increased generally, by 19% in Germany, and by 91% to Denmark, 56% to Sweden, and 8% to UK.  South African bottle exports have decreased across the board,  with the UK showing the sharpest decline of 42%, even though it remains in top position.  We wrote about Oldenburg Wines from Stellenbosch, and their popularity in Oldenburg Germany, recently.

Germany is the strongest European country and traditional tourism source market economically, and we would like to encourage SA Tourism to increase its marketing spend in this valuable tourism source market, given its above average tourism growth, and linked South African wine drinking, based on the wine estates and brands they experience on their South African holidays.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:  www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage

Tourism growth good from Germany

After a long period of reduced travel by Germans, due to the recession in the past few years, they are ready to travel again, and it would appear that the much improved German economic performance, coupled with the excellent coverage of South Africa’s tourist gems during the World Cup, appears to have led to a marked increase in enquires and bookings from Germany.

Southern African Tourism Update  reports that the ADAC Reisemonitor survey, conducted in July amongst a sample of 4 000 ADAC members (similar to the Automobile Association), shows that 71 % of Germans interviewed plan to make a long-haul holiday next year, up by 6 % compared in last year’s survey.  The article quotes a tourism player Dr Martin Buck as saying that “…the tourism industry is picking up speed once again.  The worst of the recession is now over and German citizens are again living up to their reputation as the world’s most travelled nation”.   Almost 60 % of Germans surveyed said they would go on holiday before the end of the year, irrespective of their financial situation, and that they expect the prices of tourism products and services to increase.   The most popular holiday destinations for Germans are Germany, Italy and then Spain. 

It was good to see an advertisement for South Africa in the leading lifestyle magazine Bunte at the end of September, with the headline “Südafrika Hautnah” (South Africa – up close), followed by a sub-headline relating to the Cape: “Zum verlieben schön – das Land am Kap strahlt eine Faszination aus, die seine Gäste nie wieder loslässt” (To fall in love with – Cape Town radiates a fascination, that never leaves its guests).  The ad focuses on German TV presenter Ruth Moschner, sharing her favourite things to do and places to visit when in South Africa.  She mentions Cape Town, with Johannesburg and Durban, but of the six photographs in the ad, two are of Cape Town (Boulder’s Beach and V&A Waterfront), as well as a Cape Dutch house in the Winelands.  Moschner raves about the country as a tourist destination, yet praises its people even more, saying that she has seldom experienced  being welcomed with such heartiness.  The ad is part-sponsored by SAA, and advertises a special package of € 599 from 8 November – 16 December (www.askSAA.com).   A tiny “schoolboard”-style ‘South Africa: Alles ist möglich’ (South Africa: everything is possible) concludes the ad.

A follow-up SA Tourism ad in Bunte last month featured Michael Mittermeier, a German comedian who performed at the Cape Town Comedy Festival last year.  He has been to South Africa three times, and raves about the generous ‘host country’, as he describes it (“Besucher werden in Sued-afrika in den einmaligen Rythmus des Landes integriert” (Visitors are drawn into the unique rhythm of the country).  He expresses the regret that Bafana Bafana dropped out of the World Cup so early.   He highlights the 10 hour travel time between Germany and South Africa, without time difference, as positives, and recommends a safari to see the Big Five, and the beautiful coastal beaches.  Three photographs of the rocks at Camps Bay beach, Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain, and of a Cape Dutch homestead make up half the photographs featured, a weighting towards the region that most tourists describe as the most beautiful of all in South Africa.

During the World Cup the leading German TV station ZDF broadcast an hour-long tourism documentary about South Africa, presented by the charming ex-Miss South Africa Jo-ann Strauss, prior to each match in which the German team played.  Accommodation bookings from Germany flowed in from July onwards as a result, more than we have seen in many years.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage