Emirates and South African Tourism have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to develop joint marketing initiatives aimed at growing the number of visitors from the Middle East to South Africa.

The MoA was signed by Thulani Nzima, SA Tourism CEO, and Orhan Abbas, Emirates Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations for Latin America, Southern and Central Africa.  SA Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, was also present at the signing ceremony which took place on the side lines of the Arabian Travel Market 2015, currently being held in Dubai.

The agreement extends until May 31, 2016, and provides a framework under which Emirates and SA Tourism will work to explore various marketing initiatives, this includes the attendance of tourism trade shows and fairs, trade familiarisation trips, product presentations and workshops, amongst others.

“In Emirates we have found a like-minded partner with the willingness to work together in growing the number of visitors to South Africa. We are excited to jointly discover and access markets in regions that have massive untapped potential. It is our mission to find and implement the best strategies to market South Africa and position it as the preferred travel destination. We are therefore delighted to collaborate with partners who can assist us in accessing new markets and spreading our footprint,” said Nzima.

“South Africa is a very important market for Emirates. We fly to three destinations in the country, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, bringing in both leisure and business visitors from across our network, which currently extends to more than 140 destinations around the world. This agreement underpins our commitment to support South African Tourism, which also benefits us as an airline with multiple points and frequencies into the country,” said Abbas.