South America, Asia boost SA tourism

Visitors from China have increased from 8% in August 2010 to 10% in August 2011. During the same period, visitors from India increased from 2% to 15% and visitors from Japan have increased from 2% to 7%. The hotel's African visitor figures also showed a marked increase from 3% in August 2010 to 6% in August 2011.

"This steady growth in our foreign visitor statistics shows that post the 2010 FIFA World Cup, despite the global downturn in travel, emerging markets are still seeing value in South Africa as a preferred travel destination. This is an encouraging sign for the industry and should lead to positive knock-on effects," says Bruce Deneys, director of sales and marketing at Pepper Club Luxury Hotel & Spa.

Deneys says that local hospitality establishments should embrace this business by evolving their marketing stance towards emerging territories. "Traditionally, South African hospitality providers have focused on mature European target markets such as Britain and Germany, but emerging economies such as China and India, as well as territories in South-East Asia and Eastern Europe are now showing significant growth.

Cape Town tops the list

Competition from countries such as Australia and USA is also fierce and the key for local providers is to tailor attractive accommodation packages that showcase South Africa's uniqueness as a travel destination, but also cater to specific cultural needs.

He says that Pepper Club has already seen an increase in visitors as a result of their efforts made to attract these markets. "An example of Cape Town's success is China recently naming Cape Town as "the most preferred tourist attraction for the Chinese in 2011" as part of the Global Tourism Thermal List campaign organised by the World Travel Broadcasting Union and Radio Beijing Corporation. Annual Chinese arrivals to the Western Cape has also doubled from 20 724 in 2008 to 41 532 last year.

"South Africa and specifically Cape Town is, at the moment, receiving great international exposure and we are expecting to receive increased interest from emerging market territories in the last quarter of 2011 and throughout 2012," concludes Deneys.