Sadc should use social media for marketing

THE use of social and digital media platforms in marketing tourist destinations should be prioritised to ensure improved visibility of facilities in a crowded market place, a regional industry promotion body said on Tuesday.

In recent years social and digital media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have emerged and these, experts contend, play a crucial role in satisfying tourist demands in the global world.

Social media channels are also vital to ensuring that marketers build and maintain customer relations as well as appear more approachable to current and potential customers.

Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa (Retosa) acting executive director Simba Mandinyenya said digital and social media marketing was a powerful tool which any business could use to increase its brand visibility.

“In this ever evolving digital and social media space, it is essential for businesses to utilize these marketing tools as a means to communicate with their market as well as to ensure brand visibility,” he said.

Mr Mandinyenya said travel and tourism had become increasingly competitive, as a result tourists and investors alike were faced with an ever growing range of holiday and investment destination choices.

“Therefore the ability for a destination to achieve positive recognition and enhanced awareness through client engagement is critical as this will give a particular destination a competitive edge in this crowded tourism and investment marketplace.”

Retosa is the tourism implementing agency of the Southern African Development Community and its primary objective is to market the region as a single yet multi-faceted destination.

Members of Retosa include Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mada- gascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Tourism has emerged as one of the most important and fastest growing economic sectors globally.

For many countries tourism is seen as a main instrument for development, as it stimulates new economic activities which also impact positively on employment, gross income and production.