This month, a South African Tourism delegation is set to attend the International Tourism Trade Fair, better known as FITUR – in Madrid, and will continue its strong global post-pandemic marketing drive.

Taking place from January 18 to 23, FITUR is a global meeting point for tourism professionals and a leading fair for inbound and outbound markets for Spain and the Ibero-American region (comprising central and South American countries).

“Our presence and participation gives South Africa an opportunity to engage with new and existing trade partners based in Spain and from other parts of the globe. We are there to build new partnerships and nurture existing ones as we aim to grow arrivals to South Africa. We are also looking forward to engaging with various media and other stakeholders as we continue to address barriers that may hinder travellers choosing to come South Africa,” highlighted Acting CEO for SA Tourism, Themba Khumalo.

He pointed out that 2022’s FITUR exceeded all expectations with a total of 111 193 attendees – comprising 81 193 professionals from 127 countries over its first three professional days and 30 000 on its two days open to the public. This was in addition to the participants in the digital call of its LIVE Connect platform. In 2022, FITUR had 600 exhibitors and is expected to attract 8 360 exhibitors this year.

Spain an NB market

Khumalo said Spain was an important overseas market for South Africa. According to Stats SA, Spain recorded 21 157 arrivals to South Africa between January and November 2022, compared with 6 193 in the same period last year – marking a 341,6% increase in arrivals. In 2019, just over 42 000 visitors were welcomed to SA shores.

Over the last few months South African Tourism has used strategic tourism global events to cement South Africa as a top-of-mind destination and, to further increase efforts to accelerate South Africa’s tourism recovery, contribute to job creation and towards a more sustainable South African tourism sector.

Khumalo said South Africa’s appeal as a destination was growing globally. The country ranked #16 globally in the recently released Tourism Sentiment Index for the third quarter of 2022.   As stated by the Index, the top contributors to South Africa’s overall performance were: Wildlife Viewing (15%), Restaurants plus Dining (12%), and Festivals, Events and Concerts (10%).

‘Relentless marketing’

While at FITUR, South African Tourism will also use the opportunity to invite the various global tourism players to come to South Africa to attend South African Tourism’s owned strategic events – Meetings Africa and Africa’s Travel Indaba.

Meetings Africa takes place in Johannesburg from February 28 to March 1, targeting the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions industry, whilst 2023’s Africa’s Travel Indaba will take place in Durban from May 9-11, focusing on leisure travel.

Khumalo believes that the relentless global marketing of destination South Africa bodes well for the brand and tourism rebound post-COVID-19.