Christiaan Steyn, marketing manager of Drifters Adventours, has responded to a recent story published on eTNW by detailing his recent experience at an overseas airport.
I have just returned from a two-week sales trip to Germany where I promoted South Africa to many agents and wholesalers. The trip was extremely successful and as I arrived at the airport to fly home I was confident and excited, looking forward to seeing the result of my efforts over the next couple of months.
This ‘high’ came to a short and sudden end and in fact turned into an extreme ‘low’ as I witnessed how three families (14 people in total) on the same flight were denied boarding for their holiday to South Africa because they apparently did not have all the correct paperwork for their respective children!
Fourteen passengers at the check-in counter who could not believe what they were being told!! Some sitting and crying others desperately appealing to someone who could perhaps help.
After putting my heart and soul into promoting the country this scene left me with feelings of guilt and responsibility - for two weeks I have been telling people how great South Africa is!
In a country where the wheels are falling off in almost every large industry, tourism is arguably one of the last opportunities for growth and expansion and, instead of promoting the destination to increase the visitor numbers, we respond by crushing people’s dreams to visit Africa. I am sure these people will never consider travelling to South Africa again and every single person they have told their story to will either scrap any plans they have or think really carefully whether it is worth the risk, let alone the damage done to the agent network when these passengers start demanding refunds and compensation.
And for what?
How much money did South Africa lose in the 30 minutes I stood at the counters? How much do we lose on a daily basis? How many potential tourists did we lose in the friends and family of these people who will now not travel to South Africa, and in the agents who will no longer promote the destination?
We are our own worst enemy, killing the destination from the inside.
