Photo tourism website 'This Is South Africa' launches during lockdown

Image Supplied/ Arniston by Kai Bernstein

Each photo location will include location data, a list of activities, and accessibility information to improve the search and planning functions.

The platform is the brainchild of Craig Rodney, the person who runs the @SouthAfrica account on Instagram.

"South Africa is consistently voted one of the world’s most beautiful places – and for good reason! With the rise of photo tourism, the way people source destination inspiration and plan their trips has changed. The @SouthAfrica account on Instagram is one of the most powerful online platforms for promoting travel and tourism in our country and has long been used as a source of inspiration for local and international travellers alike.

"As amazing as the gallery of images is, it’s very one-dimensional. We need to provide users with the opportunity to plan trips around South Africa based on inspiring photography. Now, instead of just a beautiful picture in an app, it’s a picture that is geotagged, with information about that particular spot in South Africa," says Rodney.

"I want to use the @southafrica account to help the local travel industry as much as possible. When it’s safe to travel again, there’s going to be a boom in post-lockdown appreciation for local travel. International travel will be slower to open up and will be expensive, driving local travel even more. There are thousands of stunning and diverse locations across every part of our country, and this will help shine a light on all of them."

How it works

Contributors can load their favourite and most beautiful images of South Africa for consideration. Once a new location is added onto the site, it gets geotagged and linked to the contributor’s Instagram account. It will also be categorised according to its accessibility (are they easy or hard to reach), what activities are available at that location, and adds tips and tricks provided by the contributor. What this does is provide a lot more information that is not specifically available on Instagram. Users can then log onto the platform, create a profile and start building their dream trip around South Africa.

"The more locations and info we add, the more we’ll be able to help our tourism industry recover from the devastating effects of Covid-19. When we all get through this difficult time we want to have played our part, and hopefully, inspire hundreds of other South Africans to help contribute to this project."

Explore This Is South Africa and/ or visit @southafrica.