Debbie Damant, country manager: Southern Africa at South African Tourism, says South African Tourism wants all South Africans to enjoy the country’s cultural diversity, as well as its amazing landscapes and biodiversity, which is what the millions of international tourists come to South Africa for every year.
“South African Tourism continues to make great strides in getting more South Africans to travel locally – an effort that is gaining traction,” Damant explains. “In South Africa, the potential market for universal accessible tourism represents around 30% of the population and a portion of that has an adequate disposable income to travel. This represents an untapped segment of the market.”
Through this national campaign, approximately 1,000 senior citizens from across South Africa will be exposed to the country’s tourism offerings; further enforcing South African Tourism’s vision to create an accessible tourism environment and to contribute to the economic development of the country.
Thoko Matjokane, Founder of Gogo on Tour organisation, says: “This campaign allows senior citizens the invaluable opportunity to discover various parts of our country. Many of these pensioners are assisting their children financially or raising their grandchildren on small state pensions so trips like these helps them forget about their struggles for a day.”
“The importance of universal accessibility for all South African remains a key priority for us. It is for this reason that we believe that all citizens should have the right to travel domestically to experience the wonders of our beautiful country,” concluded Damant.
