South Africa Tourism

Nigeria, biggest tourism market in Africa —SAT

Written by Austin Jacobson

Friday, 05 November 2010 22:30

The South Africa Tourism (SAT) Regional Director for Africa and Domestic Markets, Mr. Phumi Dhlomo has described Nigeria as a core partner and biggest tourism market in Africa, saying that South Africa Tourism has witnessed a tremendous growth of visitors from Nigeria. According to him, the increase in the number of visitors from Nigeria to South Africa keeps increasing every year and  Nigeria has now become the core market the South African Tourism in Africa. Speaking at a press conference at the Southern Sun Ikoyi Hotel in Lagos, Dhlomo said recently, the business community in South Africa came to Nigeria to hold talks with its Nigerian counterpart and this came about as a result of the fact that South Africa sees Nigeria as an important trading partner and to further strengthen the cordial relationship between the two countries. He further disclosed that SAT recently signed a marketing and working agreement with some Nigerian travel operators “because we discover that there is a lot of increase in the number of Nigerians travelling to South Africa and the signing of these marketing agreement will make it easier for many other Nigerians to access the opportunities of travelling to the country.” Clarifying issues, Dhlomo stated that the tour operators involved in the marketing agreement are not bound to procure visas for intending travellers but rather promote different activities and bring people to South Africa. They will also advise them on how to process their visas and the type of documents they require in obtaining the visas to travel to South Africa. Speaking on competition from  other  destinations in Africa, he said a lot of incentives have been lined up for tourists in Nigeria wishing to go to South Africa and coupled with the marketing agreement just recently signed between the two countries, South Africa will still command a larger part of the Nigerian market.  There was an increase in the number of tourists from Nigeria to South Africa from January to July in 2009, while in 2010 we expect to beat the number . Dhlomo said over 300,000 people travelled to South Africa to watch the World Cup and Africa had the lion share of that figure. He said as the competition progressed, more Africans came to South Africa and these further made the tourism sector more vibrant. Speaking on the global recession, he stated that despite the crunch, both countries are committed in many ways to see tourism grow between them, adding that they will intensify the marketing drive in Nigeria with their partners and also partner with radio stations in the country to boost their image.