South Africa woos Indian travellers with wine and golf

South African tourism recently teamed up with South African Airways on an annual 3 city road show to promote newer emerging tourist segments to Indian travellers. Bringing this initiative to Ahmedabad for the second time, SA seems to be going all out to promote its luxury segments to the Indian travelers.

Talking about the initiative Evelyn Mahlaba, regional director-Australia, America and Asia regions, South African Tourism said, "South Africa has always popularly been associated with respect to sports and wildlife tourism. But there is a thriving golf, adventure and vineyards that we have and want to promote through this initiative. This is a good platform for trade partners and travel representatives from both the countries to promote the best of adventure and luxury tourism that we have in South Africa."

In the latest figures released by the South African tourism Ministry, arrival figures from India have seen a marked increase from 5,047 in 2009 to 6291 travellers in 2010. If the figures are anything to go by, then there has been a spurt of 26 percent of Indian travelers visiting South Africa, making it a desirable destination in the Indian market. Traditionally known for its wildlife tourism, the country is now promoting its golf and wineyards to Indian tourists who make up a chunk of the segment that wants a slice of luxury.

Ashish Bhandari, sales manager of Sun International that boasts of a huge golf property said, "With Gary players and the Lost city golf courses in place, the Nedbank Golf tournament that is held at these venues in December since 30 years has become one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The event sees around 80,000 enthusiasts turning up for the tournament. Also we have a lot of adventure sports at the property which makes it an attractive travel destination for tourists. Another growing segment that has seen a rise in the last few years is that of the MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences and events), which includes a lot of corporates flying to South Africa for the same."