The Department of Tourism will relook at the way SA is marketed at tourism trade shows, and focus on putting product owners in contact with buyers, Tourism Minister, Derek Hanekom, has hinted.

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Addressing delegates at the Local Government Tourism Conference in Johannesburg, Hanekom said marketing SA as a destination needed to be done intelligently, with resources spent in an optimal way.

“One thing we need to properly come to terms with in our country is that our resources are limited and we need to use these limited resources a lot better,” he said. “We need better alignment in our marketing efforts.”

Hanekom said SA’s participation in tourism trade shows was one example. “It simply makes no sense to have national, provincial and local governments exhibiting separately and alongside each other at these trade shows.”

Speaking to Tourism Update at the conference, Hanekom said the discussion needed to start, adding that there hadn’t been clear guidelines and rules for exhibiting at trade shows. “We want to avoid a situation where there are desks that are selling a province but alongside the desk are cities trying to sell a city,” he explained. “We need to take stock of that so that we get more value for our money when we set up these pavilions.

“What we really do want is not to put provinces in contact with buyers but to put product owners in contact with buyers,” said Hanekom, adding that the question was how to most effectively achieve that.

Hanekom told delegates that marketing was everybody’s business and not solely the role of SA Tourism. He added that SA had an amazing variety of offerings that could attract millions of visitors. “We need to tell our story in a way that excites them and ensure that the story reaches as many people as possible.”