Boasting highly developed tourist services and travel infrastructure, South Africa has launched a tourism marketing campaign further north in a strategy to widen up its fast growing travel trade to other African destinations.

Through such a campaign, a team of travel trade executives from a dozen prominent South African tourist companies visited the East African key destinations of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in a special mission to promote the continent’s most attractive tourist magnate.

Under the coordination of South African Tourism (SAT), the team that comprised of tour operators and hotel executives held a familiarization workshop in Tanzania’s capital city of Dar es Salaam last weekend to market their visitor services and South African attractions.

“We are here in Tanzania to lobby for working relationships between South African travel trade stakeholders and their Tanzanian counterparts in our deliberate campaign to expose South Africa’s tourism to other African nations,” said Hulisani Thabela, SAT trade relations manager.

She said Tanzania has been a strategic business point to attract South African tourist companies and the workshop that was organized in Dar es Salaam was aimed at introducing South African tourism to Tanzania stakeholders.

Travel trade executive from South Africa’s Southern Sun chain of hotels and resorts Nthabiseng Moeletsi said Tanzania stands among top list for Southern Sun investments and marketing.

Southern Sun has a stake in Tanzania’s tourism through its Holiday Inn Dar es Salaam, an elegant tourist facility overlooking the Indian Ocean beaches and the 100-year botanical gardens.

Other than wildlife resources, South Africa boasts of  developed and diversified tourist attractions ranging from historical sites like Robben Island, the African town of Soweto, old Boer Trek routes, cultural tourism and vineyards.

Over 7.4 million tourists visited South Africa last year, making this African nation counted among the leading tourist destinations in the world travel trade map. 

Executive Director of South Africa’s Legend Hotels Thabiso Magodielo said Tanzania and other African destinations were in a good position to learn on how to market and develop diversified tourist attractions other than looking at one or two products made up of only wildlife and beaches.

She said Mountain tourism could be a vital attraction in Tanzania where scenic mountains dominate a large area of the land, while Mount Kilimanjaro slopes have been left underdeveloped to attract tourists.

Over 25,840 South African tourists visit Tanzania’s wildlife parks and climb Mount Kilimanjaro each year and make South Africa the leading tourist market to her neighbor states.

Big South African companies have invested in Tanzania’s tourist industry through hotels and wildlife lodges, while South African Airways is a travel trade partner connecting South African tourism to the Tanzanian side.