European Roadshow aims to lure tourists to SA shores

European Roadshow aims to lure tourists to SA shores

Teboho Masakala

Team South Africa made their way to Frankfurt, Germany, for the third and final leg of the Central European Roadshow on Thursday, 29 August, 2019.

They met with the German travel trade to gain insight into what makes their tourists choose South Africa as a travel destination and to find ways of luring more of them to our shores.

The roadshow forms part of the larger Global Roadshow that will take South African tourism leaders from the private and public sector to the UK, USA, India, China, Nigeria and Australia.

South African Tourism CEO, Sthembiso Dlamini, said it was encouraging to find that German trade partners were looking for a more inclusive tourism industry out of South Africa.

They called for black tour operators and smaller service providers that will expose the German tourist to more authentic South African experiences.

 “I thought that was a breath of fresh air because they are saying,‘We have dealt with big names before and right now we want to actually engage with smaller operators’. Tourists are looking to live like locals. The travel trade believe that those are some of the opportunities that we will be able to give.”

Andre Thomas, the Senior Product Manager of Africa at FTI Touristik, suggested that government needs to make tourism an attractive career for learners if they wish increase black ownership in the industry.

 “Tourism needs to work together with the department of education and the other departments to make tourism sexy as a job creator, job provider and a choice of career for South Africans.”