South African Tourism is delighted by the huge success of World Cup 2010 in South Africa (nán fēi, 南非)

It’s figures reported that the tournament boosted visitor numbers by 25% from 1 June to 1 July in 2010 compared with the same period in the previous year.

According to figures released by the Department of Home Affairs of South Africa, a total 1,020,321 visitors visited the ‘Rainbow Country’ during the month, clearly demonstrating the tremendous pulling power of the World Cup.

From January to October 2010, 55,874 Chinese travelers visited South Africa, an increase of 65.5% compared with the same period in 2009, making China the fastest growing market in Asia for tourists visiting the country.

“The success of the World Cup 2010 presented a colourful South Africa to the world and further enhanced South Africa’s brand internationally,” said Mr. Bradley Brouwer, Regional Manager: Asia Pacific, South African Tourism (SAT). “In 2011, SAT will enter a new era and look to ride on the tremendous growth experienced in 2010 by continuing to explore more diversified cooperation with media and trade partners making South Africa an even more attractive destination for travelers.”

South Africa rakes in awards in China

Last year, South Africa received many awards from media and trade partners in China, including the “Year’s Most Influential Tourism Destination”, “The Most Popular Long-haul Destination” and “Top 10 Overseas Destinations”.

SAT recently held a roadshow that visited Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou, with the theme of “Leave Ordinary Behind and Enjoy the Green South Africa”, to further promote the Rainbow Country as a preferred tourist destination for Chinese travelers.

SAT also embarked on a series of marketing activities using the “Leave Ordinary Behind” theme to enhance the profile of South Africa following the huge success of the World Cup where the country extended a hand of friendship to visitors from all over the world.

‘Reality tourism’

Last November, SAT launched a “20 Experiences in 10 Days” casting campaign organised by Rapid Blue, a professional TV production company from South Africa. This promotion seeks to find a couple from China to travel around South Africa while being trailed by Rapid Blue’s cameras that will record all the fantastic sights experienced along the way. Following this, a TV commercial will be produced for broadcasting internationally.

A four-month sales campaign was also recently launched targeting travel agents to promote South Africa.

The five sales agents that generate the most sales will receive an award from SAT.

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Do you remember this classic Douglas Green advert from waaay back in the days?

(OK… they were Japanese tourists, but I’m sure enjoyed it!)

Leveraging the state visit of President Jacob Zuma, South African Tourism‘s China office held “The Tourism Round Table Activation” event on 24 August 2010 in Beijing.

Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, South Africa’s Minister of Tourism highlighted to key industry stakeholders the successes and lessons derived from hosting the 2010 World Cup event and the tourism focus beyond the tournament.

More than 100 tour operators, travel and lifestyle media and executives from multinational companies across China were invited.

The visit of President Zuma highlights the strengthening cooperation between the two nations including the signing of a new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership aimed at deepening and broadening bilateral relations. The visit also demonstrates the importance that South Africa attaches to its political, economic and cultural relationship with China.

South Africa’s trade relations with China have expanded dramatically in recent years, with China becoming South Africa’s largest export destination by market since the start of 2009. China remains South Africa’s largest partner with regard to imports. Trade and tourism are often closely correlated.

“The World Cup was a phenomenal success and positioned South Africa to the world as a capable, friendly, welcoming, exciting nation and hence a great place to visit. Many people understand that South Africa has become a globally noteworthy destination for leisure, business and big event tourism,” said Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

Minister Van Schalkwyk

He added: “South African Tourism is confident that it will attract 10 million foreign visitors in 2010. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will contribute to this number, but will not be the sole driver of arrivals. Excellent service and a welcoming attitude enriches the diversity of our tourist offerings and enhances the experience of being a tourist in South Africa.”

The world-renowned STAR grading has been introduced in South Africa, lead by The Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA). TGCSA is a business unit of South African Tourism, responsible for the administration of the STAR grading, and is the only officially recognized organization that authorizes accommodation establishments to display Quality Stars.

There are over 8,000 star graded establishments in South Africa. Travel to South Africa to experience quality and cost effective leisure and business accommodation facilities, providing a “Home-Away-From-Home” experience with world-class conferencing facilities for the visitors in South Africa.

“China is definitely a very important source market for South African Tourism, ” said Mr Bradley Brouwer, Regional Manager:Asia Pacific, South African Tourism.

SA Tourism’s Bradley Brouwer

“China arrivals to South Africa totaled 45,326 from January to December 2009 which was a 12.4% increase compared to 2008. China arrivals numbered 18,928 from January to April 2010 and it represented a 40.2% increase compared to the same period in 2009. In 2010, China became one of the fastest growing overseas markets for South Africa in Asia. South Africa is still quite a new travel destination to the Chinese people. So we see the Chinese market as having great potential.”

2010 is a critical year for both South Africa and China. South Africa hosted the FIFA World Cup and China is currently hosting the World Expo in Shanghai – both global events. The target of the South African Pavilion in the Shanghai Expo was to welcome 10 million visitors during the whole 184-day Expo duration, which has been achieved in only 88-days.

The Expo as a whole has attracted over 100 million visitors.

The South African Pavilion at the World Expo, Shanghai. Read more about the Pavilion here

Images from the recent Tourism Workshop in Hong Kong:

Howzit-HongKong.com regularly field e-mails from people who have attended South African promotional events in Hong Kong with requests for various contact details of participants and exhibitors.

In the interest of those who may be interested in contacting any of the exhibitors at this weekend’s South African Tourism Workshop at the Park Lane Hotel, here are the contact details of the role-players:

South African Tourism

(1) Evelyn Mahlaba: Regional Director: Americas, Asia & Australasia

27 11 8953000 27 11 8953001

evelyn@southafrica.net

(2) Bradley Brouwer: Regional Manager: Asia Pacific

86 10 85236881 86 10 85236897

bradley@southafricantourism.cn

(3) Tracy Qi :General Manager: Marketing & PR

86 10 85236883 or 86 10 85236897

tracyqi@southafrica.sina.net

(4) Simon Wang: Finance & Administration Officer

86 10 85236881 or 86 10 85236897 13681220731

simonwang@southafrica.sina.net

SA Tourism Regional Manager: Bradley Brouwer (pic: Mike Jansen)

South African Embassy

Busisiwe Mkhwebane-Tshehla: Councillor: Home Affairs

86 10 85230000

KER & DOWNEY SA PTY LTD

Stephen Chak Yum Li: Director of Business Development

27 21 4698800 27 21 4698895 27 83 3023737

stephen@ker-downey.co.za

Thebe Tourism Inbound, UTC Asia

Heather Rose Gutierrez: Head of Thebe Inbound

27 21 5510288 or 27 21 5510207 27 71 8591202

heather@thebetourism.co.za

Rock Sun

Lucky Liang: Managing Director

886 2 25631166 886 2 25641122 886 910092921

rocksun.sa@msa.hinet.net

Kuo Yu Chen:

rocksun.tpe@msa.hinet.net

Kuo Yu Chen (Taiwan)

886 2 25631166 or 886 2 25641122

rocksun.tpe@msa.hinet.net

Comfort Travel

Jason Pan: GM

27 11 8071188 or 27 11 5076688 or 27 82 7127965

jp@comforttravel.co.za

Feizhong International Travel

Cheng Chong: Tour Operator

27 11 6163378 or 27 11 6162835 or 27 83 2735607

mickeyw@harveyworld.co.za

Walk Through Africa Tours

Yuan Wei: GM

86 10 64958831 or 86 10 64975505 or 86 13501010811

wtatbj@gmail.com

Asian Sun Tours

Su Young Lee: Director 27 21 4215993 or 27 21 4215996 27 82 0626365

rachel@asiansun.co.za

Franschhoek Wine Valley Tourism Association

Jennifer Ann Prinsloo: CEO

27 21 8762861 or 27 21 8762768 or 27 82 9007410

ceo@franschhoek.org.za

Kelcy le Keur from the Cape Winelands District Municipality (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Cape Winelands District Municipality

(1) Kelcy Sharon Cheryl Le Keur: Executive Director

27 21 8885156 or 27 21 8874797 or 27 82 4144751

kelcy@capewinelands.gov.za

(2) Badih Jamil Chaaban: Executive Mayor

(3) Christelene Claurene Brink: Councillor, Regional Development and Planning Services

(4) Claude Vernon Schroeder: Executive Director, Rural & Social Development

Plettenberg Bay Tourism

Dianna Martin

27 44 5334065 or 27 83 4555061

dianna@mweb.co.za

Cape Town Routes Unlimited

Itumeleng Pooe: Executive Manager

27 21 4874860 or 27 21 4874801 or 27 82 4874860

itumelengp@tourismcapetown.co.za

Sun International

Mark Wang: Assistant Market Manager

27 11 7807903 or 27 11 7807188 or 27 83 3272485

mark.wang@za.suninternational.com

City Lodge Hotels Limited

Rosemary Bischoff: Assistant Sales Tours and Incentives

27 11 5572600 or 27 11 5572670 or 27 82 9030303

rose@citylodge.co.za

Recreation Africa Leisure Industries

Timothy George: Director

27 11 9506000 or 27 11 9573212 44 7824832476

recafrica@rali.co.za

African Romance

(1) Daviele Carta: Sales & Business Development Manager

27 11 3845606 or 27 11 3845661 or 27 83 3096409

devi@africanromance.com

(2) Chin Mei Tang: Sales Executive

27 11 3845600 or 27 11 3845661

Jerry Khalo from Sabi Sabi (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve

Negi Jeremiah Khalo: Arean Manager, Marketing & Sales

27 11 4477172 or 27 11 4420728 or 27 84 8828466

jkhalo@sabisabi.com

Southern Sun

Jin Xiaoxu: China Representative

86 10 64731556 or 86 18910657157

steven_jin@sohu.com

Southern Sun

Jin Xiaoxu: China Representative

86 10 64731556 or 86 18910657157

steven_jin@sohu.com

Legend Lodges Hotels & Resorts

Nicolette Gauche Fourie: International Sales Manager

27 21 9819366 or 27 21 9822352 or 27 82 5200997

nicci@legendlodges.co.za

Protea Hotels

Tessa Jane Bott: Sales Manager

27 21 4305000 or 27 21 4305116 44 7776191177

tessab@africanpridehotels.com

SA Tourism

Click here to visit SA Tourism online

One Sunday afternoon, Howzit-HongKong.com attended an informative tourism workshop hosted by South African Tourism at the Park Lane Hotel in the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay.

The Hong Kong-leg is part of an aggressive travel promotion campaign across the Greater China region following a highly successful World Cup that drew an international audience of billions.

The campaign took in Shanghai and Hong Kong and at the time of writing, workshops are being conducted in Korea.  It concludes in Japan at the end of this week.

The series of workshops is targeted at the travel trade highlighting the rich and varied travel resources that the country has to offer and will be followed by other promotional activities aimed at the broader market. Forward bookings are already showing a marked pickup driven by intense media coverage of the sporting event over the past month.

More than 20 South African trade partners, including representatives from airlines, hotels, ground agents, wine associations and game reserves have taken part and provided comprehensive and in-depth information to more than 500 trade guests attending.

Jerry Khalo from the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve interacts with local service providers (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Just under one million foreign visitors have traveled to South Africa over the month of the World Cup according to new government figures and more than three million fans have attended matches, a new record.

The latest tourist arrival figures for 2010 show that more than 1.9 million (1,916,544) tourists arrived in South Africa from January to March 2010, representing a growth of 20.9% during the same period last year. Tourist arrivals were up from all major source markets, among which 21.9% are from the Asia market.

SA Tourism’s Bradley Brouwer (middle) and Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk meet a local service provider (Pic: Mike Jansen)

“South Africa’s tourism arrivals for the first quarter of the year exceeded our expectations, and we are confident the publicity from the World Cup will help us achieve our ambitious growth targets for 2010,” said Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the Minister of Tourism, Republic of South Africa at the Hong Kong stop trade workshop.

“The successful staging of the World Cup has changed global perceptions about the country. These China trade workshops come at the right time to provide a platform to create and explore more cooperation opportunities between the trade in South Africa and China. I am convinced the championship has opened up the door to our destination to scores of new visitors, and I look forward to bringing more exciting, meaty and in-depth itineraries to Chinese travelers.”

SA Tourism Regional Manager Bradley Brouwer (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Mr. Bradley Brouwer, Regional Manager: Asia Pacific, South African Tourism, thanked all honorable guests, trade partners and media friends for their long-term support given so for to South African Tourism.

“South African Tourism Beijing Office will strengthen cooperation and communications with the trade and acquire more cooperative measures to showcase the true beauty of South Africa to Chinese travellers,” said Mr. Brouwer. “Besides the trade workshop we hold annually, we are also going to tailor more substantial and value-for-money itineraries for the Chinese market and generate word-of-mouth influence to reach out to consumers through the trade and various media channels.”

Here are some more pictures from Sunday’s SA Tourism workshop:

South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk will be in Hong Kong this weekend as part of an initiative to improve the country’s tourism offering to the Hong Kong market.

This weekend’s Tourism Workshop which Howzit-HongKong.com will be attending, comes at a very opportune time after South Africa’s recent triumphant hosting of the world’s biggest sports event: the 2010 World Cup.  Now is the time to make the best of all the positive exposure and Van Schalkwyk and his team are seizing the moment.

Meanwhile, SouthAfrica.info reports that the Minister has been appointed to chair the World Economic Forum’s tourism council.

Van Schalkwyk, who has been part of the South African delegation to Davos for the past two years, was invited by World Economic Forum (WEF) executive chairman Klaus Schwab to chair the WEF’s Aviation, Travel and Tourism Industry Agenda Council through to 2011.

Hopefully we’ll be able to congratulate Minister Van Schalkwyk in person this weekend.

Read the full story on Van Schalkwyk’s appointment here

With the FIFA 2010 World Cup a few months away, we thought it would be a good idea to dust off the old travel guides, dig out some brochures and trawl the internet to find stories and ideas that can help visitors plan their visit to our beautiful country.

The first story we found comes courtesy of our friends over at zoopy.com who has a great in-house program called Out and About. 

This episode of Out and About deals with Cape Town Tourism’s Go Card.  Have a look:

The national tourism agency responsible for the marketing of South Africa as a preferred tourist destination, South African Tourism today announced the appointment of  Bradley Brouwer as the new Regional Manager Asia Pacific effective 1 December 2009.

Brouwer’s appointment comes at a crucial time as South Africa gets ready to host the world’s biggest sporting event, the FIFA World Cup in 2010. 

Brouwer’s role will see him take responsibility for Japan, China, South Korea and Hong Kong where his twenty seven years experience in the tourism industry along with his passion for serving South Africa and developing our communities will stand him in good stead. He will be based in Beijing. 

Prior to this appointment Brouwer was South African Tourism’s Country Manager for Japan and South Korea from March 2007. In this role Brouwer successfully strengthened the relationship between South African Tourism and the highly influential Japanese Association of Travel Agents (JATA). In recognition of this special relationship JATA extended the relationship for a second term (never done before) with South Africa. South African Tourism’s relationship with JATA has helped increase awareness of South Africa in Japan. The special relationship has also built travel industry contacts and developed new itineraries to the country, establishing South Africa as an officially recognised destination within the Japanese travel industry. 

“Bradley’s unfailing energy in Japan has helped place South Africa on the map in a country in which, just a few years ago, South Africa barely existed. While we still face the challenges of distance and no direct flights, thanks to Bradley and his wonderful team we are slowly winning the battle in this highly lucrative market” said Evelyn Mahlaba, South African Tourism’s Regional Director for Asia & Australasia.

I always keep a keen eye open for South African products on the shelves in Hong Kong.  You will remember my previous posts on Monster Munch, Provita, Nomu Rubs & Spices as well as JC Le Roux Sparkling wine.  I took the following picture of a KWV Vin Rouge (screw-top, perfect for a day at the beach) on a sparkling Stanley Beach, having bought it at the nearby Park ‘n Shop.

One thing that is as clear as that day on Stanley Beach, is the fact that there are too few South African products on the wine and spirits shelves of the local department stores and wine retailers.

For this reason, I visited the recently held Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair at the HK Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).  I was keen to ask some of the South African exhibitors why the SA wine and spirits industry is so poorly represented in this growing, nay, booming market. 

Upon entering Hall 3 at the HKCEC, the reason stared me right in the face.  The Australian Wine Industry had a massive pavilion with a total of sixty-six exhibitors.  The French brought over fifty-four exhibitors and another one of the so-called “New-World” producers, New Zealand had 40 producers and exporters showing off their wares.

South Africa was represented by a mere eleven industry representatives (wine estates & exporters).

So I approached some of the SA exhibitors and asked them why there are so few SA brands on the local shelves.  I was given two reasons: firstly: “RDP houses” and secondly: ”no support from the Government“. 

The first reason I understand to refer to the massive South African government programme to build low-cost house for the millions of shack-dwellers.  My interpretation of this response was that the government has put a low priority on the wine export industry, favouring instead projects like the RDP Building programme.  Which ties in with the second reason I was given:  that there is little or no support from the government for local estates and exporters to market their products in the one of the fastest-growing consumer regions in Asia if not the world… Hong Kong. 

I was told in no uncertain terms that elsewhere in the world, the SA exporters have no difficulty selling their products.  The problem-market remains Hong Kong.

This puts the ball firmly in the South African Consulate-General’s court.  Are they doing enough to facilitate the entry of SA wine and spirits into the local market?  A walk through Park ‘n Shop or any of the other retailers, big or small will tell you in no uncertain terms: NO.

I find it hard to believe that the SA government would neglect one of the oldest agricultural industries in this way.  I would argue that the problem lies with their capacity to facilitate trade in Hong Kong and indeed the whole of China.  The South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) currently has one official serving the entire region.  Hong Kong is served by a total of two local staff members and a non-functioning Business Forum.  Add to this the situation where the SA Tourism Authorities have yet to fill the position of Country Officer for China (another local official is currently Acting) as well as the SA national broadcaster’s (SABC) recent decision to close their only bureau in China, and a worrying trend seems to emerge.

If the positions mentioned above were filled, and all the different officials and organisations started working in unison, with the FIFA World Cup looming,  maybe we would be seeing more promotional efforts like this:

A SA exhibit at the Wine & Spirits Fair Nov 6, 2009

And fewer negative publicity such as this:

 A story on the perception of security in SA, pre FIFA World Cup (HK PostMagazine 8 Nov, 2009)