The majority of respondents to our latest poll believe familiarisation (fam) trips in South Africa would be the best investment of TOMSA levy funds withheld from SA Tourism.
The poll results – 35.8% believe the funds should be invested in fam trips, followed by modern marketing intelligence (22.2%), attendance at global trade shows (18.5%) and joint marketing agreements (14.8%) – come hot on the heels of SATSA CEO David Frost and TBCSA CEO Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa confirming that a committee, comprising the leaders of tourism associations and top private-sector companies, has been appointed to guide investment of the funds. The remaining 8.6% of respondents to our poll selected “Other”.
Are digital platforms more powerful than trade shows?
In a recent column for Tourism Update, Quinten Vivier, MD of the African Safari Collective, argued that travel trade conventions are “high-cost, inefficient, analogue rituals in a low-cost, hyper-efficient digital world”.
He claims the primary defence for conventions – that African travel is a high-trust, high-value product that can’t be sold digitally – is a myth, based on technology’s growing capabilities to effectively highlight a destination or product’s attractiveness and facilitate meaningful video calls.
We want your view on this topic. Our poll question this week is:
