THIS weekend, Frankfurt will witness the second high profile roll-out of South African Tourism's 'Circle of Sunshine' as it travels its way around the world. The marketing initiative - aimed to help raise the tourism profile of SA through buy-in by expatriates and local residents alike - made its debut at last year's World Travel Market in London.
It will be launched on an ongoing monthly basis in a number of other countries, including France, the US and Australia, until July/August.
The Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Mohammed Valli Moosa, together with South African Tourism's ceo, Moss Mashishi, chief marketing officer, Owen Leed and other high-profile tourism leaders including the ceo of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA), Gail McCann, will all attend the glittering black-tie Ball on Saturday night, which is being organised to dovetail with the city's local Chamber of Commerce's annual celebration.
Leed told Travel Now that since the Circle of Sunshine's launch last year, he is personally receiving up to 50 e-mails a day from people wanting to become involved. "The response has been overwhelming."
In encouraging members, wherever they are, to promote and "sell" South Africa as a tourism destination, Leed said that, in time, South African Tourism will offer some form of an incentive scheme. "Word of mouth is a very powerful marketing medium. An incentive - say of a free flight - would prove a very powerful and effective way to stretch our marketing budget."
(Elizabeth Sheridan)
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