South Africa sets itself up as a sports and fashion tourist mecca

South Africa prides itself on being a much sought after travel destination and with so many varied attractions, such as the Kruger Park, Table Mountain and Drakensberg Mountains, who can argue otherwise? The South Africa Tourism Board (SATB) is not content to trust in the country’s natural beauty to draw travellers; instead it’s ramping up its efforts to prove to the world that it can hold its own on several tourism fronts.

At the end of June the SATB announced a joint strategy with a number of top Indian travel agencies to encourage Indian tourists to visit South Africa. South Africa is already a popular destination among Indian tourists with the first three months of this year alone experiencing a 50% increase in visitors.
Another feather in South Africa’s cap is the IOC’s decision to host its 123rd Session in Durban in July this year. The session started on 3 July and will run to 9 July. Shortly after this the Sports and Events Tourism Exchange (SETE) will be held in Cape Town. Both of these rather large and important events will boost South Africa’s attraction as a sports tourism destination. The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula believes that, based on the success of the Soccer World Cup, South Africa has proven its capability to host “mega events” and manage the major influx of holiday makers such events bring.

Both the IOC and the SETE events will afford the travel industry in South Africa opportunities to showcase the country’s growing confidence as a holiday destination. All sectors associated with tourism, such as accommodation providers, eating establishments and attractions managers, have made marked improvements since South Africa hosted the World Cup and now offer even better service than before. Sports tourism is only one of the avenues to be leveraged. Given the success of the various fashion weeks, particularly Cape Town Fashion Week, South Africa has the potential to market itself as a fashion capital of the world. Think of all the revenue to be gained from high-end fashionistas as they stock up on up-market clothing labels and take in the odd safari on the side.