The US appetite for travel to Southern Africa is growing but the South African trade needs to lay off the beach itineraries and focus on what makes the destination different. This is the feedback from travel agents and tour operators based in the United States.
Members of the US trade were recently hosted in South Africa as part of a familiarisation trip organised by the New York office of SA Tourism, South African Airways and Thompsons Africa. The trip visited Cape Town, Durban, the Garden Route, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Johannesburg. Tourism Update attended a gala dinner hosted by Joburg Tourism after the trip and spoke to some of the trade present.
Jackie Cross, from Refined Journeys in California, said: “The worst thing you can do is pitch a beach holiday to an American traveller. Americans have California, Miami, Mexico and the Caribbean right on their doorstep and will not be enticed by a beach-focused itinerary.”
The US market coming to South Africa is mainly an older, retired demographic with a lot of money to spend. They were well travelled and were seeking a completely new cultural experience that was still luxury focused, said Cross.
Cross told Tourism Update that she enjoyed Cape Town the most, particularly the visit to Table Bay Hotel at the V&A Waterfront. She said it was sophisticated, well positioned and exactly what her clients would be interested in.
Kelsey Baron from Merit Travel based in Edmonton, Canada, said South Africa was seen as an expensive destination because of the distance. Most of the trade who spoke with Tourism Update said they had had 35 hours of travel time or more due to stopovers and having to fly via Dubai on Emirates.
SAA Acting CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout,announced last month that SAAwould consider rerouting its direct flights to New York and Washington to include a stop either in Senegal or Ghana. Although concerns were raised that this might discourage travel to South Africa from the US market, the US trade say they do not foresee an impact.
Tress Prefontaine from Prefontaine Travel based in Portland, Oregon, said South Africa was already known to be a long-haul destination and that, for leisure travellers who have set their mind on a destination that they know requires long travelling time, a stop won’t make a difference.
Some feedback from the participants was that the fam trip was well organised and interesting, although they struggled to understand some of the tour guides.
