South African Tourism is taking 20 South African suppliers to the Nordics for its inaugural roadshow. It coincides with the recent announcement that South Africa won its first award from the Nordics region, and came in second in the vote for ‘Best Travel Destination outside Europe’, at the Danish Travel Awards.

The roadshow kicked-off in Copenhagen on October 23, and will move to Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki, ending on October 26.

The Nordic region, namely Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway have grown, contributing over 60 000 arrivals in South Africa between January and July this year, according to South African Tourism.

Tourist arrivals from Denmark from January to July saw a 7,4% increase; Finland was up by 10,6%, Norway almost up by 1%, and Sweden 16% compared with the same period last year.

“Our organisation has spent a considerable amount of time over the past year reviewing our strategy, using research-driven analytics and insights to come up with a Marketing Investment Framework. Following this, we took a strategic decision to allocate additional budget towards further trade-driven solutions with consumer reach and impact equipping members of the trade to adequately sell South Africa as a world-class tourism destination,” says South African Tourism Chief Operating Officer, Sthembiso Dlamini.

The roadshow will be followed by a mega-familiarisation trip bringing a large number of Nordic agents to South Africa. This fam trip will be a collaboration between SAT, South African Airways and Destination Marketing Companies that have historically serviced and invested in the market.