2010-07-26 15:23

South Africa is launching a travel promotion campaign in China to introduce new products to its trade partners.

The new campaign sponsored by South Africa Tourism (SAT) is being spearheaded by a series of workshops held in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong respectively to highlight the rich and varied travel resources that South Africa has to offer, said Bradley Brouwer, regional manager of SAT Asia Pacific.

"It is a great campaign launched in the wake of a highly successful World Cup that drew an international audience of billions," said Brouwer at a workshop held in Shanghai last weekend.

He said South Africa reached a great success in hosting the World Cup as Chinese people's visa card expenses in the African country amounting to $3.2 million in June, up 173% over the same period last year.

"The trade workshops will help spur communication and co-operation between South Africa and Chinese trade counterparts," said Brouwer.

More than 20 South Africa trade partners, including representatives from airlines, hotels, ground agents, wine associations and game reserves, provided comprehensive and in-depth information to more than 500 trade guests.

Latest figures show that more than 1.9 million tourists arrived in South Africa from January to March 2010, representing a growth of 20.9% over the same period last year.

Tourist arrivals were up from all major source markets, among which 21.9% were from the Asia market. Chinese tourists to South Africa in the first three months of this year amounted to 14,759, up 34.5 per cent over the same period last years, he said.

"South Africa's tourism arrivals for the first quarter of the year exceeded our expectations, and we are confident the publicity from the World Cup will help us achieve our ambitious growth targets for 2010," said Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Tourism Minister of South Africa.

Local tourism insiders said these China trade workshops have come at the right time to provide a platform for creating and exploring more cooperation opportunities between South Africa and China.

"We will bring more exciting and in-depth itineraries to Chinese travelers to showcase the true beauty of South Africa," said Brouwer.