“Arrivals from Asia to the Western Cape have seen a sharp decline in 2014 and into 2015, most of this can be attributed to the impact of Ebola and VISAs. To try and help turn around this decline Wesgro is taking pro-active steps to re-ignite trade relationships and interest with the Asian travel market,” says Judy Lain, Chief Marketing Officer of Wesgro.
According to Bradley Brouwer (President Asia Pacific, South African Tourism) China has become the world’s largest outbound source market, with 107 million Chinese travelers spending approximately USD164.8billion in 2014.
Wesgro’s Tourism Destination Performance Report: International Markets 2014 highlights the sharp decline in arrivals to the Western Cape over this period. China including Hong Kong saw a decline of 31.2% (70,295 to 48,365), India a decline of 4.2% (26,220 to 25,128) and South Korea a decline of 27.5% (4,643 to 3,367).
Earlier this month Wesgro in partnership with the Western Cape Government and South Africa Tourism hosted a networking session in Beijing. The session was led by Premier Helen Zille and Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde. The purpose of the session was to show the Western Cape’s support for the travel industry, engage around concerns about visas and discuss tourism opportunities. The event was attended by 30 key travel trade decision makers in the Asian market.
“The networking session provided great value and insights for our tourism team to use in forging better relations and will go a long way in assisting Western Cape companies wishing to work with this market,” says Lain.
Some insights gained from the networking session include:
- 92% of visitors to South Africa are part of group travel, but the FIT segment is growing; opening up opportunities for businesses.
- The prominence of mobile internet is fast growing, with mobile travel sales accounting for 40% of sales for the top OTAs.
- South Africa is still a desirable destination in terms of Africa for the Chinese tourist and it is therefore important that we keep focus and drive this market.
- The Chinese luxury outbound market is showing more and more interest in niche tourism offers with food and wine being one of the high interest niches.
- Destinations are encouraged to educate and inspire through social media platforms. Find platforms that the market is engaging with and work with these.
- There is a strong growth in multi-generational travel groups coming out of Asia.
- The newly launched non-stop direct flight by Air China between Beijing and Johannesburg on the 29th October is expected to help stimulate demand.
- Business opportunities exist within the MICE sector as South Africa has a very strong value proposition in terms of being a value for money business events destination despite being a long haul destination.
