Working in partnership with local and provincial tourism authorities, the Beer Association of South Africa (BASA), has embarked on a nationwide drive to position beer tourism as an integral part of the country’s tourism offerings. 

The Brew Routes initiative has seen the creation of a map of 150 craft beer breweries across the country’s nine provinces, along with seven different routes that combine tourist attractions with breweries. The new tourism offering was officially launched in Tshwane (Pretoria) on Friday, September 5, with a brewery tour – Route 7: Tshwane Brew Route – attended by officials from the City of Tshwane’s tourism department, representatives of the Tshwane Tourism Association (TTA) and provincial liquor authorities. 

“Despite its growth and having quite an extensive scope, craft brewing is a fairly unrecognised industry. People know about the wine industry, and we are saying that beer also has some great attraction to it and some amazing experiences,” said Troy May, BASA’s Beer Tourism Manager.

Brew Routes was initially conceptualised to support the craft beer industry during COVID-19, when 30% of the country’s craft breweries were forced to shut down due to lockdown restrictions. The first phase was the creation of an online platform mapping out the country’s breweries, and BASA is now travelling the country to start promoting the tourism potential of the routes.  

“This launch in Tshwane is a great start and we’re looking forward to adding more experiences, not just within the beer realm, but also in and around the areas in which these breweries are located. At the end of a day of mountain biking, golfing or being in a game reserve, people want to sit down and have a beer,” said May.

Diversifying the tourism offering

The City of Tshwane is focusing on diversifying the capital’s tourism attraction beyond heritage tourism and entertainment such as music concerts and sports events.

“We know that to get people interested in a destination you have to give them a fresh reason or something that will be interesting enough to them. The craft beer industry is growing strongly and if we combine that with food, entertainment and our other attractions such as sporting events, then we can create a strong, appealing tourism package,” said Hulisani Thabela, Divisional Head of Tourism at the City of Tshwane. 

Thabela said beer tourism could be particularly useful for maintaining tourism numbers between busy periods. 

“Our tourism industry is heavily dependent on events and entertainment. We are attracting an increasing number of international events, which is a huge positive, but we need other offerings to maintain interest throughout the year, either from residents or from abroad,” said Thabela, who explained that the city would be marketing the Tshwane Brew Route on its online platforms and working closely with the TTA and tour operators. 

“The Brew Route offers the potential for a self-drive option or a standalone tour, or to enhance tours to our other attractions. It’s a new and exciting way to explore the city and we will be helping the tourism trade to take advantage of this.”

A boost to brewers

Craft brewers, both long-established and brand new, along the Tshwane Brew Route are excited about the possibilities of the Brew Route. 

“It has been a challenging time for craft breweries and we hope that this initiative can be supported by the tourism sector and allow us to tap into new markets that we have not had success reaching,” said Mouritz Kallmeyer, owner of Drayman’s Craft Brewery, which has been brewing craft beer since 1997. 

Marius Botha, founder and owner of the Hazeldean Craft Brewery, which opened its doors in August, said the biggest value would be in the marketing of the route. 

“We believe that we have created a destination that people would enjoy coming to, and now it’s about marketing that. So we are very excited that Tshwane tourism is latching on to Brew Routes and adding it to their list of potential products.”