11 January 2006

US adventure travel website iExplore, which caters for higher income travellers searching for "something unique", has listed South Africa as number six in its top worldwide travel destinations for 2005 - up from number 13 in 2004.

iExplore sells tours all over the world, focusing on adventure and experiential destinations.

iExplore founder and CEO George Deeb said in a statement that there was little change in iExplore's best-selling destinations in 2005, with the top five destinations - Egypt, Peru, Galapagos, China and India - largely unchanged.

"That said, both South Africa [13th in 2004] and New Zealand [18th in 2004] saw strong growth to move into our annual top 10 list for the first time ever," Deeb added.

South Africa placed sixth on iExplore's 2005 ranking, followed by France, Italy, New Zealand and Alaska.

Other destinations showing strong growth in 2005 included Morocco (12th), Argentina (14th) and Jordan (16th). Chile (20th) and Costa Rica (40th) both fell out of the top 10.

Deeb, speaking during 702 Talk Radio business editor Bruce Whitfield's "The World at Six" show on Tuesday, described iExplore's typical clients as higher income, independent, experience-focused travellers who "want a fully guided experience on their own personal terms", who "want to get something unique and different ... where price is not their first thought".

Deeb said that South Africa was growing in popularity "because it is a great country with a lot to offer, whether people want to tour Cape Town, or see the safaris near Kruger, or go through the wine lands of Stellenbosch, there's plenty of stuff to do.

"But in addition, we've seen declines in East Africa, particularly in Kenya, and South Africa is benefiting from that.

Asked what South Africa could do to make its visitors' experiences even more rewarding, Deeb said such travellers "oftentimes don't only want to see South Africa, they want to see southern Africa.

So they want to tie it in with a trip to Victoria Falls, or go see the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and they're kind of doing a multi-country experience. To the extent you could piggyback on that demand for multiple destinations, I think it would benefit South Africa."

SouthAfrica.info reporter

	International tourism to South Africa has surged since the end of apartheid. In 1994, only 3-million foreign visitors arrived in the country. By 2006, international arrivals had surged to a record 8.4-million (Photo: South African Tourism)

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