Despite the Nordic market’s importance as a source market for South Africa, members of the trade have complained about insufficient marketing and support from SA Tourism.

Carlos Leite-Ferraz, from Credo Travel Marketing – a specialist in the Nordic regions based in Norway – said Credo had not received support from SA Tourism. “As far as I know, only Sweden has enjoyed SA Tourism’s support in the past and that was from 2007.” Leite-Ferraz has written to SA Tourism and to each province asking for maps, brochures and travel material on South Africa to be placed in the South African embassies in each country.  

“I enquired about the Nordic market to SA Tourism at Indaba and they responded by saying the Nordic market, except for Sweden, was not a core or watch market,” said Leite-Ferraz. 

He added that SA Tourism closed its offices in the Nordic region a couple of years ago but he and other members of the trade felt the body should have representation in the market.

“The Nordics need to be seen as a region and intertwined, selling to one of them is like selling just Cape Town. This market needs more attention and should be seen as important,” said Leite-Ferraz.

Rune Engstrøm, from Destination Africa in Norway, also argues that the Nordics should not be ignored. “I have problems understanding why SA Tourism completely ignores the Nordic market,” he said. “I found some figures for the first quarter of 2015: the number of travellers from India is approximately 17 000 and from the Nordic countries, which are very high-end tourists, the number is approximately 31 000.”

Rung Button, Director: Sales and Operations for Inspirations Travel, also complained of a lack of assistance from SA Tourism when trying to market to the Nordic countries. “Whenever I have asked, I've been told it is not one of their target markets,” added Button.

At the time of publication, SA Tourism had not responded to a request for comment.