Tag Archives: South African Tourism

Hanneli Slabber, Regional General Manager, Asia, Australasia and Middle East, South African Tourism, has been honoured with the DDP Game Changer award. An industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in the tourism and hospitality sector, she served as the Country Head of South African Tourism for the India market. Her in-depth knowledge of South Africa’s beautiful landscape and the right kind of destination packaging has led to the creation of many global marketing campaigns, which helped boost travel numbers to South Africa. Slabber began her career in the hotel industry before moving to sales & marketing. With experiences in both inbound and outbound companies, she then moved to South African Tourism.

South African Tourism has appointed Hanneli Slabber as Regional General Manager Asia, Australasia and Middle East. She has held the reins at South African Tourism’s India office for the past seven years. Slabber hands over to Alpa Jani whom she has worked with for six years and who will function in the capacity of Acting Hub Head, MEISEA, South Africa Tourism. During her tenure at the India office, Slabber has grown to love and understand India. She has developed effective and long-lasting ties with media houses, travel trade, airlines and other authority figures in the travel industry. She has enabled, motivated and led the India office team as it has conquered the various taking the destination to the top of holiday-maker’s popularity charts: from establishing South Africa as a standalone destination, to building aspiration and universal appeal with celebrity, Bollywood and cricket personality associations and making classroom trainings identifiable and interesting. She has been instrumental in helping the South African travel industry understand India better, encouraging them constantly that it will be worth it to tailor not just for India but for the tastes and demands of people various regions/ states of India. Her experience in taking a destination from one-among-many to a must-see safari and adventure hotspot with multi-segment appeal is expected to help South Africa make waves in the Middle East and South East Asia, where South African Tourism has recently set the ball rolling on destination promotion. Prior to her posting in India, she served as Global Product Head for the tourism board, based in South Africa where she learned the intricacies of various markets planning hosted trips for media and travel agents from various source markets. …

Having already established itself firmly in the Indian market, the South African Tourism (SAT) has now further expanded its product offering to include newer regions that offer newer activities. This includes the Garden Route and the Eastern Cape which it started promoting during its Learn SA multi-city roadshow to the Indian travel trade. The new regions include the towns of Knysna, George, Oudtshoorn, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth and East London that are poised to become strong selling points on the new itineraries. To this end, SAT’s India office organised an educational tour to these new regions for a few travel agents from Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Nagpur and Bengaluru in September. The 11-day itinerary saw them visit a range of tourist attractions and holiday experiences in the Garden Route towns of Knysna, George, Plettenberg Bay and Oudtshoorn, and in the nearby cities of Port Elizabeth and East London in the Eastern Cape. Hanneli Slabber, South African Tourism’s country manager for India, explained that the aim of the trip was to showcase South Africa’s diverse tourism offering beyond the usual ‘big three’ destinations of Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. “A large section of the Indian market includes second- and third-time visitors to South Africa, and to maintain their interest, we need travel agents to be equipped with expertise on different locations within the country. The six ‘new’ South African destinations offer a cross-section of the wildlife, adventure, lifestyle, entertainment and shopping experiences that are most in demand by the outbound Indian travel market. What is particularly appealing about the Southern Cape-Eastern Cape region, Slabber pointed out, is that it offers everything from casinos to beaches, safaris to nightlife, all within close proximity …

South African Tourism is putting the final touches on an event that will foster closer collaboration and targeted business interactions in an effort to have a more productive trade show for buyers and exhibitors. INDABA, Africa’s leading travel show, returns to the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban from May 16 to 18, 2017, sporting a more streamlined programme and improved floor layout. INDABA 2017 will see more than 7,000 delegates from around the world meeting in Durban to grow the African tourism economy through conversations, partnerships and a focus on doing business, South African Tourism Chief Executive Sisa Ntshona said. Through the online diary and matchmaking system, delegates can use technology to set up pre-scheduled meetings with buyers or exhibitors that may match their needs. A new INDABA app will also function as a digital resource for updates. The Hidden Gems pavilion will introduce the world’s travel buyers and visitors to small tourism enterprises from each of South Africa’s nine provinces that may otherwise have remained undiscovered. Delegates at the trade show will be exposed to the full breadth of Africa’s tourism offerings, including high-end products at the Tourism Grading Council’s new luxury pavilion. This feature will cater to global buyers who are on the lookout for the premier five-star offerings many destinations on the continent are famed for. Apart from the pre-scheduled meetings, buyers will have the chance to meet with exhibitors during the morning speed marketing sessions on each of the three show days. Here, participating exhibitors will be grouped according to themes such as lap of luxury, scenic outdoors and award winners before making short presentations on their offerings. These sessions are an excellent …

South African Tourism showcased its new global campaign ‘Wow in every moment’ for the Indian market at their annual roadshow in Delhi. The 4-city roadshow has on offer 65 products and around 120 delegates to discuss business opportunities with the travel trade in India. South Africa recorded 27 per cent growth, with 81,429 arrivals from India by the end of third quarter.  Elaborating on the new campaign, Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism – India, said, “We want to sustain this growth and also attract return travellers. We are also promoting smaller cities, which have got as many activities, allowing travellers to enjoy the experience, rather than wasting time in commuting.”  

South African Tourism sets the pace for continued double digit growth in the coming year with its annual roadshow slated for this month. The roadshow will be held in Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai where suppliers from South Africa will network with Indian travel agents. Now in its 14th edition, the roadshow will start with Chennai on 30 January, and then go on to Bengaluru on 31 January, Delhi on 1 February and conclude in Mumbai on 3 February, 2017. About 10 per cent of the delegation will be first-timers and will include hotel chains, airlines, products, attractions, DMCs and local tourism offices. Indian agents will be able to meet representatives from boutique hotel chain Lion Roars Hotels & Lodges, adventure-focused attraction Tenikwa Wildlife, care-rental Multilayer Trade Corporation and DMC Africa Incoming. Domestic airline Safair has also signed up. Additionally, Air Seychelles (which many Indians use to fly to South Africa via Mahe) that is said to be starting a flight to Durban starting March will also be present. Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism India, said, “Up until the third quarter of 2016, we noted that arrivals had grown by 26.6 per cent in comparison to 2015 and we hope to have closed the year at 27 per cent growth. By September 2016, our arrivals had hit 73,902. This makes India South Africa’s eighth-largest long-haul tourism source market.” The tourism board is expecting between 600-1,000 travel agents to attend the roadshow.

South African Tourism has joined hands with Thomas Cook to offer travel packages and deals for Indian travellers especially during Diwali and Christmas holidays. They can now have the opportunity to take advantage of the special, fun-filled, activity and experience rich holiday itineraries from Thomas Cook in association with South African Tourism. Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism,said, “We constantly endeavor to create exciting and innovative experiences for our visitors. We would love for more Indians to come and witness the wonder that is South Africa – to truly experience and know the country like the locals. In close partnership with a leading travel trade partner like Thomas Cook, we hope to ensure that our Indian visitors have the best and most memorable experience from the minute they begin planning their trip. With a favorable exchange rate, Indian travellers going to South Africa will get an exceptional value on the ground as they can partake in so many more activities and experiences in their desired budget.” Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head – Leisure Travel & MICE, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd says, “For our Teams at Thomas Cook India, our partnership with South Africa Tourism has had a significant positive impact- South Africa has now emerged as one of our fastest growth long haul destinations for Indian outbound travelers!  Our upcoming campaign is strategic and focused on a 3 pronged delivery: strong growth of over 15%; inspire demand not only for  popular choices across individual and group travellers (Cape Town, Garden Route, Johannesburg, Sun City), but equally showcase newer regions like Kruger, Franschhoek, etc., and thirdly, catalyse uptake for fresh new opportunities like self-drives and winter-travel.”

South African Tourism has launched a new campaign called ‘Fastest 50’- a unique incentive campaign for trade partners in India. The first 20 agents to book fastest 50 customers for a nine-night or more package will win an all-expense paid trip to the Rainbow Nation. To participate, partners have to be certified SA Specialists (both phases) and have at least two packages featured on South African Tourism website deal page. The Fastest 50 campaign is valid for travel period from June 1 onwards. Commenting on the campaign, Country Manager – India, Hanneli Slabber said that, “India is an important market for South African Tourism and our trade partners have been vital in our success here. It is essential that we engage with our partners in meaningful and innovative ways to allow them to sell the destination and experience South Africa first hand. This campaign is our effort to sustain these engagements so that we have destination loyalists. We invite all our partners to participate and be the first in this exciting run chase and make the most of it.”

During January-September 2015, South Africa received 58,373 Indian arrivals to the country, shared Monika Iuel, General Manager-International Marketing, South African Tourism, at the Delhi leg of 4-city South African Tourism roadshow. She stated that they are hoping for exponential growth with the help of various campaigns, due for launch in 2016. Talking about the initiative, Hanneli Slabber, Country Head, South African Tourism, said that the Chalo South Africa and T20 World Cup campaigns set to launch on March 1 and March 10 respectively, will surely be beneficial in upping the tourist arrival number to the country. After Delhi, the South African Tourism roadshow moves to Hyderabad on January 21, and ends at Mumbai on January 22.