“WE'RE very confident about the future of inbound tourism from the US to SA,” said acting ceo, Didi Moyle at this week’s American Society of Travel Agents (Asta) conference and International Destination Expo, held at Sun City.
In addition to attending the pre and post tours around the country, the 500 Asta travel agents visiting South Africa are undergoing destination training in the form of SA Tourism’s Fundi course.
“We are hoping all the agents attending the conference will be certified and have set a target of 2 010 agents by 2010. So training is certainly going to be a core focus and we are also hoping to set up smaller seminars and webinars,” says SA Tourism President US, Sthuthukile Zungu.
The US market interested in SA, says Sthu, comprises six million potential travellers, however only three million are positive about SA. These are dissected into two segments: the Next Stop South Africa and Wanderluster groupings.
“The NSSAs are empty nesters with lots of income and are looking to be pampered. Wanderlusters meanwhile are looking for adventure, anything that’s out of their every day. They’re very price sensitive and we have established packages that would appeal to them, as well as looked at a story-telling campaign through television and also the Internet.”
It is this segment of young urban professionals, says Asta ceo, William Maloney, that is growing in the US. “The market in the US is also changing more in favour of long-haul destinations. We see travellers increasingly opting for more adventuresome destinations and Africa is certainly on their list of places to visit.”
SA Tourism has set a target of two SA packages sold per agent visiting with the Asta event to recoup the costs associated with hosting the American agents. “We will be extend our ambassador programme to the trade, as well as incentivise them to sell SA. We will also be profiling an agent of the month through our newsletter. We are working on a programme to ensure that the following the event, the agents’ interest in SA does not wane,” says Sthu.
Editor’s note: For video coverage on the Asta conference and International Destination Expo, see TravelHub in the coming week.
