SA Tourism scores in India
27 August 2008
South African Tourism's India office has won praise for the work it has done in promoting South Africa to potential Indian travellers, and has been awarded as the Best International Adventure Tourism Destination of 2008 By Today's Traveller magazine and the best National Tourism Organization of 2008 by Hospitality India magazine.
Today's Traveller is a premier business and leisure travel magazine, while Hospitality India is a key travel and trade magazine. Both awards were help to recognise and honour outstanding performers in the travel and tourism sector, and both were attended to by Indian state and national government officials, as well as eminent personalities from the local tourism and hospitality sectors.
"We are extremely proud that SA Tourism has won the 2008 award as the Best International Adventure Tourism Destination and also the Best National Tourist Organization," SA Tourism acting India country head Medha Sampat said in a statement this week.
"Two awards in just a few days of each other is tremendous reason to celebrate."
Medha said the success was due to both a strong local team, as well as support from the SA Tourism head office back in South Africa. She added that they were delighted with the double honour, and were looking forward to another fruitful year ahead.
Travel maps
South African Tourism has adopted a multi-pronged strategy in the India market leveraging several unique initiatives with the media in a bid to effectively reach out to the consumer.
Various Style Maps are one such initiative launched by South African Tourism in India focusing on different aspects that would appeal to the Indian tourist. The Food Map was launched successfully last year and has since proved to be a handy tool for the trade, and will continue to be updated each year.
For the present year, South African Tourism is working on two more such Style Maps focusing on "Outdoor Adventure" and "Luxury and Indulgence" specifically for the Indian market.
Indian tourist arrivals into South Africa were 51 823 in 2007, posting a record growth rate of 16.9% as compared to the previous year, when 44 337 Indians visited South African shores.
"This growth rate has catapulted India to the top 15 inbound markets in the world in growth percentage terms for arrivals into South Africa, according the latest research conducted by South African Tourism," the statement read.
SAinfo reporter
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