SA’s inbound tourism has made 81,79% recovery of the 2019 levels. Cape Town and Kruger have a higher percentage of recovery compared to the rest of the country.
As you can see there has been uneven recovery over the provinces and this could be due to:
- some regions have stronger marketing
- some regions have better tourism infrastructure
- travellers are more familiar with certain destinations
- some areas have limited connectivity, higher travel costs and less promotional efforts
- high flights costs and lesser domestic flights to the smaller airports
- higher crime and poorer infrastructure in certain areas keep the tourists away
How can we change this?
- Businesses and government could invest in better and reliable infrastructure and accessibility in the lesser-known regions
- Municipalities need to clean up their areas so that they are safer and more appealing
- Tourism businesses could develop unique tourism products in lesser known regions to bring in more tourism
- Better digital marketing of the lesser known areas to make tourist aware of what those regions have to offer
- Tour Operators could package tours to include some of the lesser known regions especially encouraging longer stays so that itineraries can include these new locations
- Destination Managers can educate and encourage the Travel Agents to promote tours to the lesser known areas of SA
- Influencers and others users of digital marketing could showcase these other lesser known gems in South Africa
- We all need to reshape the narrative about South Africa emphasizing safety measures, positive traveller experiences and unique offerings beyond perceived risks
- South Africans need to be tourists in their own country, trying different towns and areas to become familiar what the whole country has to offer
Most of the above information was gather by SATSA