South Africa’s trade focus

SOUTH AFRICA Tourism invested more than ever in UK and Irish travel trade in 2017, training a record-breaking 900 agents.

The tourism body’s travel trade programme included training, roadshows, workshops and fam trips – with 36 agents hosted in South Africa on six separate trips, visiting Cape Town, the Garden Route, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.

And last November saw the third year of SATSchool, a ‘one-stop shop’ training platform aimed at equipping agents with unique selling points, the latest news, and how to answer customer questions. The roadshow took place in Cork, Manchester, Birmingham and London, with partners including British Airways, local tourist boards and attractions and experiences.

Tolene Van der Merwe, Hub Head UK & Ireland for South African Tourism, said: “Following an incredibly successful 2017 we’ll be continuing to work closely with members of the UK and Irish travel trade s through training workshops, takeover days, fam trips and our fourth year of SATSchool to help us achieve our global goal of five million more tourists in the next five years.”

The tourist board will also launch tradededicated social media channels this year. southafrica.net