Zambians shop till they drop in SA

A GROUP of nine Zambian travel agents confirmed that there is a "huge potential" for South Africa to attract even more tourists from their country. The group, the first ever to be hosted on a familiarisation tour organised by South African Tourism, were very favourably impressed by what they saw during their brief three-day visit earlier this month and agreed that they would now be able to sell the country from the first-hand knowledge gained during their trip. The group suggested local operators put together attractive three-and four-day packages that incorporated time to shop. They favoured Cape Town and Johannesburg, though Durban was also a popular destination for families visiting children attending school in the city. SA Tourism gained additional valuable insight into the Zambian market, which is first and foremost looking for value for money packages, despite the fact that Zambians visiting South Africa, are high spenders of fashion and big-ticket items. However, one of the few pitfalls highlighted was the fact that the majority of Zambian nationals do not have credit cards, favouring instead cash transactions, a practice that in South Africa often causes problems when booking into hotels and renting vehicles. One of the fastest growing sectors of travellers from Zambia is the expatriate Asian community. Zambia is South Africa's fifth largest source of tourists from the African mainland, with 75 135 arrivals in 2000. Arrivals for the first three months of this year indicate a 26% increase (20 553) over the same period in 2000 (16 369). (Miguel de Sousa)