South Africa’s Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk is confident the country’s tourism marketing strategies are on track and already showing good results. During the launch of Tourism Month 2011 he explained although market conditions in the globe reramined challenging results for the 1st quarter of 2011 show an increase of 7.5% in foreign tourist numbers compared with the same period in 2010. He said the traditional markets were holding their own with good growth coming from the emerging markets of China, Brazil & India.
He added: “Lower hotel occupancy does not mean arrivals are declining, in fact we continue to record impressive growth. It does, however, point to shifts in consumer choice and where people choose to spend their money whilst on holiday in South Africa. We need to therefore work even harder to understand the tourism market and respond to the needs of global travellers. Our major tourism revenues still come from our core markets in Europe and North America and we are working aggressively to defend and grow our position in these markets, while also actively exploring the potential for tourism growth from emerging markets in Asia, the Americas and Africa.”