ASATA trade asked to join SA Tourism domestic drive
South African Tourism is engaging with ASATA members to help it inspire South Africans to travel around their country and encourage a culture of domestic travel.
This comes as SA Tourism’s Domestic Tourism Marketing Strategy has been allocated a budget of R100m this year, R105m next year and R107m the following year. SA Tourism’s current Sho’t Left Domestic Marketing Campaign will be expanded to include the idea that there is always a first time to experience something new and that every weekend provides an opportunity to do something that the South African tourist has never done before.
SA Tourism has done a domestic survey which identified the top five reasons for not travelling domestically over the past three years, including: could not afford to travel, no reason to take a trip, time constraints, unemployed/no income and disliked travelling.
Economic constraints are the biggest barrier to domestic travel. Approximately 48% of the adult population of SA cannot afford to travel and are unemployed or have no income. Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) remains the major reason for domestic trips and the number of domestic trips increased in 2014 compared to 2013. The number of holiday and business trips taken in 2014 decreased compared to 2013 and were even lower than 2012 levels.
South African Tourism has as its aim to educate and empower South Africa’s travel trade to take advantage of the potential of domestic travel through market insights and real-life experiences.
ASATA and South African Tourism will be working together to promote domestic tourism through ASATA travel agent members with such initiatives as roadshows, educationals, information updates and regular forums.
Existing tools to help trade sell the destination already exist:
SA Specialist is an interactive online learning programme that will improve your knowledge of South Africa.
Thousands of destination photos have been commissioned by SA Tourism for use in all collateral. These can be downloaded from FlickR and are free for use. Please credit SA Tourism.
SA Tourism has produced research reports on domestic travel that are free to access for all trade members.
Should you wish to find out additional information,check out the SA Tourism Domestic Strategy.
http://saspecialist.southafrica.net/za/en
https://www.flickr.com/photos/south-african-tourism/
