Brazil has emerged as a sophisticated incentive target market for South Africa. Since the 2010 FIFA World Cup, SA has grown into a top-of-mind, popular destination for the South American market, which not only has a keen interest in upmarket hotels and top-branded parties, but also loves to shop.

Robin McLeod, SA Chapter Committee Member: CSR, Site (Society of Incentive and Travel Executives), says although SA has been working slowly in the Brazilian market for the last decade, the 2010 World Cup was the country’s real introduction to SA. Now they adore the exotic nature of Africa, and with SA only being an eight-hour flight away, they regard the country as both accessible and reasonable.
“Brazil popped on to the radar as an incentive market about eight to ten years ago, and increased steadily. They come to SA for its wildlife, which is a huge drawcard, and for safari and the uniqueness of the African continent – not so much for our beaches, as they have their own excellent beach resorts. And they’ve got money! They go to top hotels, love partying and any opportunity that they get to shop, they will; you simply have to include shopping in their incentive programmes,” he said at a Site networking event at the Holden Manz Wine Estate, Franschhoek.
Thanks to the two Southern hemisphere countries’ shared BRICS membership and burgeoning relations between them within this framework, Brazilians are now more aware of SA. Incentive travel is further stimulated by the proximity and regular airlift (up to two flights on some days), as well as the fact that most Brazilian incentive tourists can speak English. In this way, language is not a major barrier.
McLeod says Brazilian groups stay an average of five nights in SA and prefer to stick to a fairly stylised incentive itinerary, mostly consisting of Cape Town, Sun City and a safari experience. “They tend to play it safe and won’t do anything out of the ordinary.”