A new non-profit campaign aims to help smaller businesses in the tourism industry across South Africa to stay relevant throughout the lockdown by establishing a virtual presence.
#VirtualTravelSA is an open campaign, meaning that anyone on social media can join the campaign by using the hashtag. “The idea is to keep showing those beautiful places, small accommodations and activities in South Africa and that we have so much to look forward to when we can travel again,” said campaign co-founder Patrycja Oosthuizen of Travel Opulent Box.
The campaign has also started a series of #TravelChatSA topics that are discussed weekly on Twitter. This week’s topic was the West Coast and was co-hosted by Weskus Tourism.
“The campaign aims to encourage small businesses in the tourism industry to keep going, to stand together, to show togetherness in these challenging times, and optimism that what we are going through will only make us stronger and we will survive this,” said Patrycja.
She added that people in the tourism industry should use the campaign as an opportunity to use all the pictures stored in their galleries. “The idea is for businesses to join using their pages so that it is the business subtly ‘putting up its hands’ to say ‘come stay with us, come do our activity, come experience our area’.”
According to photographer and social media manager, Riaan Jordaan, the campaign is especially relevant for small businesses who may not necessarily have the budget to market their products on this scale.
“All indications are that future travellers will be looking for breakaways to less crowded spaces, places and experiences once we can travel again. We hope to fulfil that need for future travellers,” said Riaan.
