African tourism arrivals: focus on value not volume

SOUTH Africa enjoys a 67,2% lion's share of all outbound trips taken by SADC (Southern African Development Community) member countries, and in order to cater better for this important market, the point of sale must begin once the tourist crosses our border. This according to Monitor, the company hired by SA Tourism (SAT) to conduct tourism research in core markets in order to help develop a Tourism Growth Strategy for SAT. Findings on the African/Middle East market were the last to be tackled in a presentation to the trade on Monday. Monitor found that African arrivals accounted for 72% of all arrivals (around 4,2 million out of a projected 5,86 million) with arrivals from SADC countries (mostly neighbouring countries) accounting for 92% of that total. The majority of these travellers (93,6%) enter South Africa by car. Monitor found that these tourists can be divided into seven segments namely: 1. The 'focused trader' - a business segment mainly originating from Swaziland; 2. 'Budget business person' - a business segment combining business and entertainment, mainly originating from Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia; 3. 'Professional business person' - upmarket business segment originating mainly from Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia; 4. 'Free-loading VFR' - This market come to SA mainly to visit family and friends and originate from Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland; 5. 'Holiday VFR' - This market come on holiday and stay with family and friends and originate from Zimbabwe and Swaziland; 6. 'Medium budget holidaymaker' - This market come to SA purely on holiday breaks and originate mainly from Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and 7. 'Full activity businessman' - This market do not enter SA on road, but rather by air and mix business with pleasure. Monitor believes that from a marketing point of view, provincial marketing authorities should work together with the trade to cater for the SADC market. They, like other key overseas markets, also have a problem with crime in SA, but many have indicated xenophobia and a lack of adequate information as negative issues. From an African perspective further afield, other nations have been identified as attractive markets for SA including Egypt, Nigeria, Mauritius and Kenya. SA already has airlinks with all these countries (except Nigeria). Monitor also found that tourism growth to Africa as a whole is in the region of 5% per annum (granted from a relatively low base) compared to a projected growth rate of under 1% for South Africa this year. The Middle East markets of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were both found to be relatively unattractive to South Africa, event though both countries enjoye a relatively high GDP per capita. Meanwhile, Horwath Tourism and Leisure Consulting believes the current turmoil in the Middle East can result in an increase in the numbers of tourists considering visiting South Africa instead. According to Horwath's director, Joseph Aminzadeh, there were some 22,5 million tourist arrivals to the Middle East in 2000, and it's safe to say that many who were thinking of visiting the likes of Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the Gulf and North Africa, would be looking for alternative destinations. (Miguel de Sousa)