Tag Archives: Mocambique

European Union follows the lead of Germany and France in dropping its Travel Bans against South Africa and its neighbours!

 

More good news for South Africa is that the 27 countries of the European Union will be following Germany and France in lifting their travel bans against South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Mozambique,  Botswana, and Eswatini, according to a report today by BusinessTech.

The first news came today via a Tweet from the Presidency of France.  Continue reading →

Unique Duvel beer glass transformed into an African design in celebrating ‘Art of Glass’!

On First Thursday earlier this month my Parisian friend Aurélie Jullien and I attended The Belgian Beer Company’s celebration of the ‘Art of Glass’ at the WORLDART Gallery on Church Street, an exhibition of the art by Lizette Chirrime, the first African artist whose work has been used on a Duvel beer glass. Continue reading →

SATSA appoints David Frost as CEO, driving Tourism competitiveness!

David Frost SATSAThe Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA), an association of tourism operators, has appointed Economist and Tourism Strategist David Frost as its CEO. Given that SATSA represents a large number of tourism operators, and Frost does not fear speaking out, it will be interesting to see how he will drive his association and members to achieve his goal of enhancing the competitiveness of our country’s Tourism industry.

SATSA has more than 700 members who guarantee ‘quality in tourism‘, its website states.  This is achieved by annual assessments which are done of its members, and that all members are bonded, ‘providing a financial guarantee of deposits held against the involuntary liquidation of a SATSA member‘. Members span the transport, tour operator, destination management, accommodation, tourism broker, adventure tourism, business tourism, and tourism service sectors, the bulk of the components of the Tourism industry.  The main benefits of being a SATSA member are the lobbying done with the government on behalf of the industry, networking with other members, an Employee Benefit and Provident Fund, legal advice offered, member discounts, arbitration services, and newsletters.

Frost has a wide experience in Tourism, having moved into the Continue reading →

SA Tourism 2012/2013 marketing mix of traditional markets, India, and Africa!

SA Tourism is to concentrate 60 % of its 2012/2013 marketing budget on its traditional tourism core markets of the USA, UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Australia, as well as on India, and the African countries Bostwana, Angola, Kenya, and Nigeria, Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk told Parliament’s Tourism Committee earlier this week, according to Business Report. Unfortunately the report does not provide the size of the new marketing budget.

Minister van Schalkwyk highlighted the increasing contribution of Africa to tourism, exceeding that from other countries outside our continent, and the beneficial effect this has on our economy.  He added that previous buying and business trips from Africa were turning into a ‘true tourism market’, and he has therefore added R15 million for additional marketing in Africa, ring-fenced for this purpose, and ‘essential for South Africa to be the dominant tourism market on the continent’.  The Minister and his department have been criticised in the past for tourism arrival statistics from Africa being so high, and have been blamed on cross-border shopping trips, and not true travel trips. The Minister said he would like high income earners from African countries such as Kenya and Nigeria to do their shopping in South Africa rather than in Europe.

A further 20 % of the SA Tourism marketing budget will be focused on ‘Investment markets… in the hope of improved returns in the future’, which are BRICS countries China and Brazil, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Belgium, Italy, and Sweden.  ‘Tactical markets’, including New Zealand, Ireland, Lesotho, and Swaziland, are to receive an unreported budget allocation in that they offer ‘particular opportunities’.

The Minister acknowledged the local domestic tourism market, which ‘enabled the industry to hedge against global insecurity but also improve the local quality of life’.   The Department of Tourism is targeting 18 million local tourists (a 23 % increase from 2009) and 15 million international visitors for 2020.

A week ago we called on the Department of Tourism to not neglect the traditional core source markets, especially Germany, a country showing strong tourism growth, and therefore the dominance of the spend on these traditional core markets is excellent news.  One wonders though how far the marketing budget will stretch, with 25 countries having been included in the SA Tourism marketing mix!

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