India is a fast emerging strategic growth for South African Tourism, and the industry is focusing on Indian travellers with substantial marketing budgets and bespoke campaigns to reach out to various consumer segments, a top official said Friday.
"India is a fast emerging strategic growth market for outbound travel and with the evolving outlook and preferences of Indian travellers, the South African tourism industry is focusing on the Indian market with substantial marketing budgets and bespoke campaigns to reach out to the consumer segments," said Hanneli Slabber, country manager, South African Tourism, at its annual road show here.
The road show is a multi-city tour with over 1,000 Indian travel agents attending the event also in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.
"Every year, we put in our best efforts to make the roadshow more promising than the last one. The roadshow provides an opportunity for South African supplier delegations to interact and establish commercial ties with Indian trade. The Indian travellers' palate has become experimental and therefore, through our numerous trade initiatives, we envisage the influencers of the Indian travel market to sell the destination more effectively to the end consumers," Slabber added.
"In observation of the increasing outbound travel demand from the Indian market, we have welcomed several new South African suppliers to sell their unique products to the Indian travel fraternity this year. In order to sustain our growth and widen our audience reach in the country, we will continue to explore newer markets and traveler segments to leverage the available opportunities," Slabber said.
The road show witnessed first time entrants such as Franschhoek Wine Valley, Turnberry Boutique Hotel, Gary Kirsten Travel and Tours, Paarl & Wellington Tourism, Cango Wildlife Ranch, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism, Double Tree By Hilton Cape Town, among others.
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Several popular South African suppliers such as Extraordinary, Tsogo Sun, &Beyond, and Sun International returned to participate at the road show this year.
Citing the importance of the Indian market, a few South African suppliers have even established permanent offices and representation to give a fillip to their business from India, a statement from South African Tourism said.