The MOA was signed by Thulani Nzima, South African Tourism's CEO, and Orhan Abbas, Emirates Senior Vice-President, Commercial Operations for Latin America, southern and Central Africa; on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market 2015, currently being held in Dubai. The South African Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, who is attending the travel market was also present at the signing ceremony.
The agreement extends until 31 May 2016, and provides a framework under which Emirates and South African Tourism will work together and explore various marketing initiatives aimed at promoting South Africa in various regions in the Middle East, which will be identified by the two parties.
"In Emirates we have found a like-minded partner with the willingness to work together in growing the number of visitors to South Africa. We are excited to jointly discover and access markets in regions that have massive untapped potential. It is our mission to find and implement the best strategies to market South Africa and position it as the preferred travel destination. We are therefore delighted to collaborate with partners who can assist us in accessing new markets and spreading our footprint," said Nzima.
"South Africa is a very important market for Emirates. We fly to three destinations in the country - Cape Town, Joburg and Durban - bringing in both leisure and business visitors from across our network, which currently extends to more than 140 destinations around the world. This agreement underpins our commitment to support South African Tourism, which also benefits us as an airline with multiple points and frequencies into the country," said Abbas.
The agreement will see marketing activities, such as attendance of tourism trade shows and fairs, trade familiarisation trips, product presentations and workshops, amongst others, be undertaken to achieve the parties' objectives.
