GEORGE NEWS - George & Wilderness Tourism attended the South African Tourism Roadshow in India from 4 to 8 February. Tourism manager Joan Shaw and tourism officer Graham de Swart each manned a booth, allowing for equal attention to George and Wilderness and enabling them to double the number of agents they could see.
Portfolio Councillor for strategic services, Iona Kritzinger, accompanied the tourism officials on the road show in an oversight role, to experience how international tourism marketing to the trade happens on the coal face and to gauge the success of the initiative.
The tourism officials saw approximately 1 200 tour operators and travel agents during the road show - Mumbai (500), Chennai (200), Calcutta (200) and Delhi (300).
George & Wilderness showed off their products, including activities, accommodation and restaurants, and there was much interest in the "new" destination that was marketed to this audience for the first time. Agents were interested to learn that George is more than just an airport and were especially interested in the adventure activities available in Wilderness.
Shanam Jain of Maurya Travels has already made contact to visit George in April this year and said of her meeting with Shaw: "It was such a pleasure to meet you at the South Africa Roadshow 2019 last week. Your enthusiasm while representing your region was something I really was fascinated by. You gave me such a good update about George and Wilderness that I felt like they should be on my next trip."
The Garden Route areas were well represented with marketers from George & Wilderness Tourism, Fancourt, Protea Hotels by Marriot, Oudtshoorn Tourism, Cango Caves, Mossel Bay Tourism along with Freaking Fast Waverider, The Diaz Hotel & Resort in Mossel Bay, Gondwana Game Lodge, Bloukrans Bungi in Tsitsikamma as well as SA Forest Adventures, opening shortly in Knysna - making up just over 10% of the total exhibitors.
Tourism manager Joan Shaw explains the products available in George and surrounds to Indian tour operators.
The road show covered four cities across India, and the delegation from George took 10 flights in eight days, moving from one city to the next.
Meal times and bus and air travel also provided excellent networking opportunities. The South African delegates and 20 tour operators took advantage of this market to establish how to get more of this lucrative out-of-season business to George.
The India Gate in New Delhi (originally called the All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located astride the Rajpath, on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of New Delhi.
Going forward
The tourism office will continue to build on the extensive network of contact details with follow up e-mails providing requested information and arranging site visits for interested delegates. This is also a chance to stay in contact with these agents and send them news of special deals and events throughout the year to remain top-of-mind, so that next time agents make a booking, they think of George first.
While Indian visitors used to travel mostly in our off-season, trends now show that they are visiting South Africa, and the Garden Route, throughout the year.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced that he would work on South African Airways to reinstate direct flights between Johannesburg and Mumbai. South African Tourism in India has a target of bringing 100 000 Indian visitors to South Africa per year over the next few years.
Portfolio Councillor for strategic services, Iona Kritzinger (left) with acting high commissioner for South Africa, Ben Joubert, at the breakfast hosted by SAT Tourism in Delhi.
"If this happens, the Garden Route and George could easily capture 50% of this market, and at an average spend of R15 000 per person in the country, this could not only stimulate the economy, but create many sustainable jobs throughout the year, negating seasonality issues currently experienced," noted Shaw.
George Tourism is considering facilitating information sessions on how to secure more Indian business and meet the market expectations once the guests are here. Tourism product owners who want to host more Indian guests, can e-mail Joan Shaw on jshaw@george.gov.za for more information.
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