SA Tourism Takes On Three-Pronged Approach For India

Charmaine Fernz - Mumbai

Lance Bradley Littlefield

Having done the necessary research required for a new tourism board, the recently appointed Lance Bradley Littlefield, country manager - India, South African Tourism has set plans in place for the Indian market. In an exclusive with Express Travel & Tourism, he outlined his three-pronged approach to tap the avid Indian traveller.

"As a new tourism board, our primary focus will be firstly to focus a lot of energy on the Indian travel trade. Secondly, we will increase our levels of market research to further understand the needs of the Indian traveller and create the right product and last but not the least would be the right identification of the segments. We have two clear target markets we want to initially tap - the wanderlusters or what one would call the emerging youth or Double Income No Kids (DINKS), who have a high level of disposable income and the experienced traveller in the age group of 35-45 years. As a country, South Africa has a lot to offer and there is 'something for everyone', to the extent that we could also cater for a child-friendly holiday. Considering the Indian numbers which were just approximately 43,000 in 2004, our main focus would be consolidation," affirmed Littlefield.

Elucidating further about the boards plans for the coming year, he added, "On the marketing front, we would look at quite a few consumer promotions. We would also look at expanding and enhancing the Fundi programme in India. The programme is already very extensive, tough and in-depth to the extent that a Fundi Specialist at the end of the programme would know much more about South Africa as a destination than the local people. Although, we had initially charged our agents a fee for opting for the progamme, it is now being offered free of cost. The number of agents who have completed 80 per cent of the programme, is still very modest. In the coming months in order to educate the travel trade on the destination, we are looking at an educational programme on South African tourism for around 150 agents across India, which would provide them a complete idea and experience. Though our initial focus for promotion would be the two main metros - Mumbai and Delhi, we will look at Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai in future. The MICE market is another segment we are looking to tap extensively as there is a huge growing market from India. And finally, if one has to gauge our focus on our main markets, China is a good example. The country is a fast growing market and to further tap its potential, South African tourism will be looking at creating a smaller version of the Indaba (the third largest global travel and tourism event) in China, which is the first of its kind."