A South African Tourism delegation, which will include Acting CEO Themba Khumalo, will visit Brazil in October as part of the organisation’s Global Advocacy programme to stimulate a demand for tourism in major source markets.

According to Khumalo – who spoke to Tourism Update during a media briefing on South Africa’s H1 2022 tourism performance recently – this visit will include discussions with key aviation decision-makers to highlight the demand for a direct flight between SA and Brazil. 

He explained that the Americas – North and South America – are strong markets for South African inbound and outbound tourism, but since LATAM has not renewed its flights between Johannesburg and São Paulo and SAA is not flying either, tourism growth between SA and South America is stymied.

“Direct airlift is key to growing tourism. During our visit to the United States last month, we met with Delta and United Airlines to highlight the need for increased frequencies and to tap further into their respective regional frequencies and we will do the same during the visit to Brazil,” said Khumalo. 

In August, South African Tourism executives visited Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York to help build on that momentum with trade, media and stakeholders in this important market.

South African Tourism COO Nomasonto Ndlovu was part of the delegation that met with the executives from both United Airlines and Delta Air Lines in New York. 

These meetings continued the destination’s initiatives to strengthen relationships with its airline partners, with Ndlovu commenting that “connectivity is the lifeline of any destination’s tourism efforts”.

At the media briefing, Minister of Tourism, Lindiwe Sisulu, highlighted that global seat capacity between South Africa and international/regional destinations was at 61% of the 2019 pre-COVID-19 levels.

“75% of seat capacity in South Africa is available on the Johannesburg routes. Seat capacity on the routes to Johannesburg grew 71% over 2021,” highlighted the Minister, noting that Qatar offered the highest number of seats on this route. 

She said Cape Town had an impressive 1.2 million seats, with Emirates Airline offering the most seats on the Dubai/Cape Town route.

“And, Durban’s King Shaka International Airport is punching above its weight with a 150% growth from 2021, representing 4% of all global seats,” Sisulu said.