US operators are keen to market South Africa, a panel revealed on Thursday at the United States Tour Operator Association (USTOA) workshop hosted by Satsa.
The panel includes North American tour operators, wholesalers and retail travel agency owners who were in South Africa as part of Indaba, and also participated in a golf tour organised by Satsa.
The US trade, some of whom visited SA for the first time, gave positive feedback of their visit to the country and also said South Africa was an attractive destination to US travellers in light of terror concerns elsewhere.
Marketing South Africa as a primary destination will encourage visitors to visit other African countries in the future, the panel said.
“I think your goal here is to promote South Africa as a stand-alone destination, first,” said Dave Herbert from Great Safaris. He added that 40% of Great Safaris clients will combine it with another region, such as the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
The panel suggested that tour operators are still highly relevant to selling Africa. They said booking international destinations for a long period of time for a significant amount of money cannot be done online and there is a significant role for the ground handler.
While initially the North American market will travel to South Africa for a safari experience, when they return to Africa, they will look towards multi-generational travel experiences that can accommodate children and grandchildren, the operators said. “There was a big turn-around in family travel after 9/11 as a lot of people wanted to get close to their families again,” said Herbert.
One of the stumbling blocks to family travel in South Africa is the requirement for unabridged birth certificates, said Dave Marek from Ker and Downey/Travel marketing services inc.
Other challenges mentioned by the panel included a lack of geographical knowledge. More maps locating destinations need to be included in promotional material, Herbert added.
Kiran Budhdev from Huntington Travel said they experienced many cancellations after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, despite many destinations in Africa not being affected.
Paul Cohen of PH C Consulting said that product development is important in marketing South Africa as a destination as many Americans only know Cape Town and the Kruger area. “The more product you have, the more product Americans can buy”.
This was Jim Morrison’s, from Goway, first time travelling to South Africa. “I already feel like I want to come back.”
