SOUTH Africa should learn a lesson from the Irish if the country's tourism industry is serious about attracting African-American visitors, said a former US mayor.
Ray Flynn was speaking at a welcoming function at the Mount Nelson Hotel for eight mostly African-American radio stations invited to SA by SA Tourism (Satour) and others to broadcast live travel features to the US every day this week.
Flynn, ex-mayor of Boston and representing the Catholic Family Radio Network, said some 65 million people of Irish descent live in the US providing a largely, until now, untapped tourism market for the Emerald Isle.
"Tourism has been booming in Ireland, both north and south," he said, "ever since the security situation had improved. The same thing could happen in South African if African-Americans knew more about South Africa and felt safe coming here. It is up to South Africa to market itself properly."
Flynn said he had visited Ireland 35 times. "The violence in the north kept tourists away for many years. But now you can hardly get a hotel room up there. The south, which was largely free of terrorist activity, has always enjoyed strong American support in tourism but even more so now."
Blacky Komani, general manager of the Americas for Satour, said: "In the United States we need to create greater awareness of South Africa as an affordable, accessible, high-quality vacation. We believe the endorsement by America's top radio personalities will continue the momentum which started with the launch of our marketing campaign earlier this year."
(Simon Farrell)
