MG915 Marketing Management

2018
2018-2019Group Assignment
“South Africa - Inspiring New
Ways”

Cheng Joo Chin (201856497)

Edahani Wan Yahya (201867648)
Ezatulhada binti Ismail (201860532)
Julian David Gartner (201856994)
Kosuke Shimada (201853136)
Mohd Hazwan Mohd Hairollah (201873098)
Group 1
12/12/2018
Table of Contents

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ............................................................... 2

1. SECTION I ............................................................................................................ 3
1.1. SA Brand ............................................................................................................... 3
1.2. SA Tourism Differentiation..................................................................................... 4
1.3. Segmentation, targeting and positioning ............................................................... 5
1.4. Competitive analysis.............................................................................................. 6
1.5. Marketing Mix ........................................................................................................ 7
1.6. Conclusion | Summary of Analysis ........................................................................ 8
2. SECTION II - RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................. 10
2.1. Strengthen branding identity................................................................................ 10
2.2. To finetune market segmentation and adopt strategic marketing ........................ 10
2.3. To ensure sustainability of branding campaigns .................................................. 11
2.4. To strengthen presence and engagement on Social Media ................................ 11
2.5. To formulate and implement a cohesive digital marketing initiative ..................... 12
2.6. To increase awareness on Public – Private partnership ...................................... 12
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 13
Appendix 1: Executive Summary .................................................................................. 13
Appendix 2 – List of charts, figures and tables .............................................................. 15
Appendix 3: Details of Marketing Mix ............................................................................ 18
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 21

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 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

ABBREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS FULL REFERENCE

SA South Africa
NTSS National Strategy Sector Tourism
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
UNWTO United Nations World Tourism
Organisation
DMO Destination Marketing Organisation
VFR Visiting Friends and Relatives
PYP Play-Your-Part Movement
USA United States of America
NBI Nation Brand Index
GMTI Global Muslim Travel Index
UK United Kingdom
GDP Gross Domestic Product
ICCA International Congress and Convention
Association
DCI Digital Country Index
MICE Meetings, Incentives, Conferences,
Events / Exhibitions
TGS Tourism Growth Strategy
BSA Brand South Africa
SANCB South African National Convention Bureau

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 1. SECTION I

1.1. SA Brand

1.1.1. Identity: SA is working on strengthening its brand positioning and equity.

Deriving from the most updated marketing strategy issued by the Government
Tourism Board, its applying several tools from different models which could
help them to have a higher impact on their targeted customers.

Considering the “identity is in focus when leveraging brand equity and value
creation” (Urde & Koch, 2014), SA current strategy draws elements from
multiple models of branding that addresses both concepts.

1.1.1.1. Building identity: SA has a solid identity based in different areas. One
example is through “Brand Orientation” “an approach in which the
process of the organization revolve around the creation, development,
and protection of brand identity in an ongoing interaction with target
customers with the aim of achieving lasting competitive advantages in
the form of brands” (Urde, 1999), which yields good results if it is a
consistent effort.

1.1.1.2. Core identity: taking legacy left by Nelson Mandela and using it to
highlight SA as a conserver of those values. This gives SA elements to
work within several branding frameworks such as Keller´s brand equity
model, giving the brand an identity to work with and allows possible
tourist to identify themselves with these values. It also gives a meaning
to the brand in terms of imagery and performance, as it promotes several
elements. Thus, tourist experience in the destination meets the promise
of being the keeper of such values promoted. (NTSS, 2016-2026)

1.1.1.3. Side identity as an outdoor activities’ destination: SA display as an

outdoor activities’ destination, harnessing the wish for adventure of
tourists, combine it with the previous point, and convert it in one single
offer. As an example, in this field, SA makes the effort to merge the
values of Mandela with the image of an outdoor activities’ destination via
its logo design, to be appealing to several facets of the brand identity
prism. The personality facet plays a big role, thus the destination
consistently uses similar messages and imagery to convey this
perception to the outside world.

1.1.1.4. Changing perception: as a developing country, SA has weaknesses

as a tourist destination. Poverty, inequality, not well-developed tourist
workforce and high crime rate are common
(https://www.tourism.gov.za/ResourceCentre/Pages/StrategicDocument
s.aspx). Therefore, the clear need to capitalize its strengths. SA applies

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 tools from Aaker´s model and the brand equity prisms that aim to redirect
that perception.

1.1.1.5. Building positive associations of the brand with the highest

appreciated values of equality, freedom, fairness and new ways, is the
tool that SA .yields results. (Aaker´s model).

1.1.1.6. SA thrives to make their brand connected to the tourist self-

perception. By implementing this strategy, SA promotes itself as a
diverse venue in which several niches of tourists feel identified (SA
tourism board website). (Aaker´s model).

1.1.1.7. Reflecting tourist belief: SA is changing and moving towards a

broader type of experiences. This approach shows that SA live by the
values it promotes. This shows a good insight of the changes in tourism
industry at a global level and their mid-term strategy supports this (NTSS
2016-2018).

1.1.1.8. SA understanding how the tourists see themselves: all the above
strategies link on how SA is looking ahead and supporting its own
connection to the tourists. As an example, SA has been able to
understand how large event organizers see themselves. It has modified
the offerings to accommodate the needs of the event attendees and
hence changing the perception of this tourist to feel more connected so
it will choose SA over similar competitors.

1.2. SA Tourism Differentiation

1.2.1. SA Unique Selling Point: The principal DMO for SA through its official
tourism site (southafrica.net) differentiates the SA brand from its competitors
based on its core identity, namely the image of Nelson Mandela, which is
arguably the world’s most recognizable and incomparable icon on freedom
and democracy.

1.2.1.1. The ‘Nelson Mandela 100’ campaign and its promotional hashtag
#bethelegacy as the main highlight on the principal tourist gateway
website, invites potential tourists to explore a total of 100 tourist
attractions throughout SA. This campaign is commendable as it cleverly
puts in a package almost all the tourist attractions that encompass
history, culture, nature and sports.

1.2.1.2. Selection of Nelson Mandela as the celebrity or big entity association

with the brand clearly differentiates SA from competitors like Morocco,
Egypt and Turkey as all of them position their country brands based on
physical locations/attractions that are rich with cultural and natural
heritage.

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 1.2.2. Positioning at target markets: The NTSS identifies nine core international
markets, and six core African markets, see Table 3, however, it does not
specify at micro level the target segmentation criteria with more usable
categories.

1.2.2.1. The Brand South Africa’s Annual Performance report indicates SA’s
commitment towards proactive and coordinated reputation management,
communications and marketing of the SA Nation Brand. Although, it´s
not clear the impact of this approach, it is encouraging to see SA DMO
acknowledging the value of having a well-coordinated nation branding
campaign.

1.2.2.2. SA monitors its nation brand position via the Nation Brand Index. It is
currently at no 35 out of 50 nations and part of this overall ranking is
contributed by its standing on the tourism front at 38/50. A country’s
destination branding is dependent on the government’s attention and
commitment on other aspects that influence a country’s overall image. In
this regard SA is poised to improve further as its government is
committed to be measured on critical NBI elements that influence a
nation’s reputation i.e. people, culture, exports, investment and
governance.

1.2.3. Brand equity development: Brand South Africa, which started in 2002,
was critically assessed in 2017 for its effectiveness. Further enhancements
have been planned as reported by ‘The Brand South Africa Trust’ which
includes organizing a targeted number of media hosting events; activities on
selected marketing platforms both local and international; appointment of
brand ambassadors and the initiation of Play-Your-Part (PYP) movement to
get SA citizens on board in promoting brand South Africa. This initiative
appeared to have been successful given the increase in number of tourist
arrival in 2018.

1.3. Segmentation, targeting and positioning

1.3.1. Level of segmentation

1.3.1.1. The current segmentation strategy as outlined in the NTSS document

indicates a very high-level segmentation based on countries which
classifies markets in four categories i.e. core, investment, tactical and
watch-list. This approach is not sufficient and would not yield a good
outcome as explained later.

1.3.1.2. Without a clearly defined market segmentation for international

tourists, SA might lose out to its competitors in vying for lucrative tourist
expenditures from popular source markets such as China, Europe and

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 USA. Even though SA DMO is aware of the shift in tourism
demographics, which have inclined towards the older and below-35 age
groups.

1.3.1.3. Concerning domestic tourism, which makes up 75% of tourist arrival

to SA, report shows 70% of the local tourists visited SA for VFR
purposes; however, it is unclear if SA DMO is studying the behaviors of
this segment based on their lifestyles and spending ability and
preference. Benefit, usage and lifestyle segmentations would be factors
to consider in order to increase visits.

1.3.2. Carving new niche for international markets

1.3.2.1. As identified in the NTSS report, SA’s market share of the global
international travels is only 2%; therefore, it is imperative that SA DMOs
carve a profitable niche, as it would be challenging to divert leisure
international tourists from top destinations in the region such as Egypt,
Morocco and Turkey. However, it is encouraging to note that SA is
gaining popularity in the MICE sector. Cape Town is ranked in the global
Top 50 city for conventions and SA has secured a strong foothold in the
MICE market, in both Africa and Middle East overtaking other top cities
such as Hong Kong, Morocco and UAE.

1.3.2.2. SANCB should continue its good work to harness this sector as
business tourist have the tendency and capabilities to spend more in SA
as compared to domestic and regional leisure tourists even though the
latter account for 75% of the total tourist arrivals in SA.

1.4. Competitive analysis

1.4.1. Measuring up the competition

1.4.1.1. Egypt and Morocco are competition to SA as they consistently

compete for the top 3 African destination. Geographically they have an
advantage to attract the high-spending tourists from Europe. Egypt and
Morocco harness benefits as they inherit iconic tourist products i.e. the
Nile River, Giza pyramids, Sahara Desert. In terms of DCI global ranking
for tourism, both are positioned higher than SA. According to DCI which
measures the amount of web search for a travel destination, SA is ranked
at number 46, whereas Morocco at 33 and Egypt at 34. SA needs to find
ways to overcome this weakness.

1.4.1.2. Turkey is a big competitor for SA and should be benchmarked against

if SA wants to forge ahead in the tourism global market share. Turkey is
the world’s Top 10 destination, known for iconic cultural, historical and

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 natural attractions such as the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia. The 2018
Annual Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index ranked Istanbul at No.
9. The Annual Mastercard-Crescent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index
(GMTI) also listed Turkey among Top 5 of Muslim-friendly travel
destination countries. Given its big success in tourism, the sector
contributes significantly to Turkey’s GDP. There are many lessons and
examples from Turkey, which SA could and should learn if SA wants to
strengthen its economy through tourism revenue.

1.4.2. Tourism budget and planning

1.4.2.1. Turkey is transparent about tourism development plans. In SA’s

Tourism Strategy 2023 report, Turkey details comprehensive plans to
develop nine tourism development areas, seven tourist corridors, ten
tourism cities and five Eco-Tourism Zones. The Turkish government
commits to spend 1% of its tourism revenue on tourism promotion and
that translates to USD 260 Million, compared to SA’s annual tourism
budget of USD15 Million.

1.4.2.2. Although SA does not have the financial prowess to top Turkey’s
tourism budget, SA could emulate in terms of an integrated planning to
develop new tourist attractions based on thematic development zones
such as Cultural & Thermal Development Zone and Eco-Tourism
Development Zone.

1.5. Marketing Mix

1.5.1. Product, Price & Place

1.5.1.1. SA is attractive for African tourists, which makes up 75% of tourist

arrival to SA. Its main online tourism gateway promotes products under
“Breath-taking Scenery”. Although this brand is strong in terms of product
offerings, it lacks top-of-mind must-see world-class attractions like its
competitors. However, the assortment of affordable and accessible
attractions is compelling for low budget domestic/regional tourists who
are price conscious, searching for best value-for-money trips.

1.5.1.2. SA actively promotes itself as a convention destination differentiating

from neighboring countries. The International Congress and Convention
Association (ICCA) ranked SA at 34th in the global destination for MICE
events. Cape Town has a convention venue that could accommodate up
to 20,000 people and in total SA offers 1700 MICE venues. SA’s
strengths in this aspect would increase tourism revenues from business
tourist.

1.5.2. Promotion, People, Process & Physical Evidence

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 1.5.2.1. Apart from traditional marketing initiatives, SA offers ambassador
program by sponsoring bloggers to visit SA. However, this have not
yielded a significant impact in terms of coverage. Its online presence and
advertisement are not as exciting as its competitors especially Turkey
and Egypt are. The level of engagement on social media is also lacking.

1.5.2.2. SA has spent USD14 Million to promote tourism in 2017/2018 and is

allocating an annual budget of approximately USD15 Million until 2021.
This financial commitment supported by investment on people and
process, i.e. raising tourism professionalism and integrated tourism
management, could improve SA performance.

1.5.2.3. In terms of physical evidence, the SA brand prides itself with hotels
that comply or surpass international standards as graded by the Tourism
Grading Council of SA. While there appears to be considerable effort to
strengthen the tourism sector and its contributions to the GDP, SA has a
lot to do in terms of political will in establishing an extensive country
development plans like the closest competitors.

1.5.2.4. SA needs to improve international airports facilities, land

transportation and increase international direct flights to encourage
increase of international visits. (Hename, U.S., 2018). Travel facilitation
in the form of updated Visa policies should be introduced, as more
families will to travel to SA given the change in regulation about children
travelling to SA. (Head, T., 2018)

1.6. Conclusion | Summary of Analysis

1.6.1. Moderate branding identity: SA DMO have a clear vision of the SA brand
since its inception in 2002. however when benchmarked with SA competitors,
the SA brand, its tagline ‘Inspiring New Ways’, in terms of positioning, it keeps
lacking engagement specially in social media when compared to its
competitors

1.6.2. Market Segmentation and Strategic Marketing: SA DMO acknowledged

in the National Tourism Sector Strategy 2016 – 2026 report published in
November 2017 (page 52) that they were revising SA Tourism Growth
Strategy (TGS) including its market segmentation prioritization model. Failing
to detail out the market segments, would put SA at a disadvantage, as it would
not benefit from effective Strategic Marketing.

1.6.3. Sustainability of Branding Campaigns: given the current segmentation

and delay in finalizing a market prioritization model, SA is not able to devise
effective targeted marketing strategies let alone formulate customized
marketing mix for the intended segments. This makes SA resort to an

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 undifferentiated marketing strategy, which proves to be ineffective and results
in SA losing out to its competitors. It is important to note that many countries
are targeting China, India, UK and Europe source-markets. As competition for
global tourism market share is stiff, tourists would easily ignore SA as it lacks
top of mind among those.

1.6.4. Social Media & Digital Marketing: While SA commits to a fair amount of
annual tourism budget amounting to USD15 Million; it is not clear whether a
sufficient amount would be allocated for digital marketing including. Being
ranked 34th in the DCI benchmark for internet search performed by global
netizens is not good enough.

While the ‘Nelson Mandela 100’ and the #bethelegacy campaign is

commendable as it included a specific apps called Mandiba’s Journey Apps,
this campaign is not successful as only 14,000 Instagram posts have used
the hashtag to date, even though Nelson Mandela is a global icon. The official
SA Tourism Instagram account “MeetSouthAfrica” however, itself does not
promote #bethelegacy. It is evident that SA DMO does not have an integrated
social media and digital marketing strategy.

1.6.5. Public - Private Partnerships: NTSS and BSA Annual Performance

Report 2018/2019 published in January 2018 highlighted the importance of
getting involvement from the private sector and the general public. One
initiative known as “Play Your Part” (PYP) aims to solicit participation from the
public in promoting SA nation branding, however, the public response for PYP
can be significantly improved through a more effective campaign.

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 2. SECTION II - RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1. Strengthen branding identity

2.1.1. Update identity: Nelson Mandela, may eventually be outdated and lose its
strength as new generations emerge and will no longer be and effective
marketing tool.

2.1.2. All-inclusive: Branding starts from the bottom which is the citizens itself and
must be guided by a strong leadership. All stakeholders need to collaborate
closely in the long-term basis and communicate coherently. They are all
equally important and play important roles respectively.

2.1.3. Safety first: Considering that SA is rebuilding and restoring its tourism
industry post-apartheid, health and safety risks might pose major barriers.
Improving the perceived value can be critical. Promoting SA as a well-being
place and reducing the crime rate for example can be beneficial in rebuilding
SA image. (Seraphin & Gowreesunkar, 2017).

2.1.4. Emotional hooks: Transparent rebranding: Mutual relationship between

destination and tourists to enhance an instant emotional link is important for
branded destinations. SA needs to meet the tourists’ emotional needs other
than the basic needs to establish a strong connection. (Miller, Gonzalez &
Hutter, 2017)

2.2. To finetune market segmentation and adopt strategic marketing

While SA DMO is yet to finalize the segmentations for its prioritized markets as
reported in the NTSS and Brand South Africa Annual Report 2018/2019, the
followings are recommended so that SA can profit from a sound strategic marketing.

2.2.1. Targeting domestic and regional African tourists: As this contribute 75% of
the tourism revenue for SA, it is worth conducting surveys to ascertain their
needs and behaviour towards the tourism product offerings. SA should also
heighten the excitement and expand their campaign on “I do tourism” by
banking on the shared spirits and sentiments of Africans.

2.2.2. Targeting the business segment/MICE tourists: Given that SA stands strong
in this sector, it should explore in detail the lifecycle, purchase behavior,
personality and benefits sought by this group of tourist and devise a focused
or customized package to encourage them to stay longer in SA, explore
farther and spend more.

2.2.3. Targeting the sports segment: Although this is included in their marketing
strategy (NTSS), a thorough plan needs to be put in place to attract sports
fans to SA. SA used to host many major events starting from 1995 Rugby

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 World Cup, the 1996 African Cup of Nations, the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the
2010 FIFA World Cup, the 2014 World Mountain Bike Marathon
Championships and the 2016 Ironman African Championships Triathlon
Series. However, SA has slacked in hosting major sporting events since 2017
as SA failed to secure several major sporting events. (Evans, 2018).

2.2.4. Targeting millennials: Millennials travels more frequently and SA should

utilize the presence of its Tourism Country Offices located key source
markets, to undertake targeting and positioning actions to this community.
Thus, designing an attractive differentiated marketing mix. (Barnes, 2018)

2.3. To ensure sustainability of branding campaigns

2.3.1. While budget allocations may be increased to fund branding campaigns that
are worthy of winning international awards as in the case of Egypt’s ‘This is
Egypt’ campaign, and SA being a country with a relatively low tourism budget
as compared to hot country destinations such as Turkey, SA should aim to
focus on making its branding campaigns more sustainable by skewing it
towards responsible tourism. In this regard, SA should look inward at its own
strict policy on child travel and position it in such a way to project SA’s image
as being protective and caring towards children. One example to emulate is
Cambodia’s award-winning campaign called ‘Friends International –
Childsafe' where travelers get involved in curbing child exploitation.

2.4. To strengthen presence and engagement on Social Media

2.4.1. SA should put more effort into social media given the rise of social media
users every day. Social media marketing leverages on creating brand
awareness and enables personal interaction with potential and existing
customers. Social media is most important media channels for many
industries including tourism. More people is searching for information online
before deciding on travel destination. Instagram is fast growing and has the
highest engagement among all social media. (Leone, C., 2018). It is crucial
for SA to optimize this channel to improve on conversion rate.

2.4.2. SA has a sizeable following on Instagram, but engagement is minimal. With

continuous search algorithm iterations it is also, wise to use Facebook ads as
the service still have the biggest user base in the world. Many popular
destinations invest in Influencer Marketing as they are tech savvy, opinionated
and are highly influential word-of-mouth advertising. Influencer marketing is
still considered new in SA, although it is in trend globally. (Tsele, L., 2018) It
is generally accepted to be very effective as they are “next door” celebrities;
unlike the conventional media superstars who are unreachable. Through them
SA could reach a larger audience and make promotional hashtags and brand
more visible. SA should also take advantage of the unconventional media to
promote tourism by appearing in high profile movies’ scenes, which could

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 attract many tourists to visit the movie scenes as in the case of Angkor Wat
in Tomb Raider and New Zealand in Lord of The Rings.

2.5. To formulate and implement a cohesive digital marketing initiative

2.5.1. Sthrengtening of SA website by using appealing visual communication to

improve the e-experiences before the actual visits. More attractive, to
stimulate interest and encourage visitors to stay longer and visit more pages.
SA should also link related operators to their site to help to increase the search
engine ranking as well as utilize SEO, PPC and google ads. They should also
focus on retargeting ads to entice and remind past visitors who could be
repeat customers. Retargeting and remarketing is a good online strategy to
turn potential customers into actual paying customers. It is very effective
because it focuses on people who are already familiar or at least have some
interests in the brand or destination. It brings higher ROI than most other
digital channel. (Burzler, N. 2018) However, high quality content, proper and
solid ad campaigns are prerequisites.

2.6. To increase awareness on Public – Private partnership

2.6.1. Co-Creation: “Brand participation generates a better understanding of the

performance of a product or service while adding richness to the consumption
experience. It heightens the intimacy between the brand and the consumer
by creating the opportunity for self-discovery.” (Ind, N., Iglesias, O., & Schultz,
M. (2013).).

SA faces a challenge when it comes to service level perception, service

quality and consciousness of the local tourist workforce to deliver a good
product. This shows it has a great potential to implement co-creation
programs and policies that could change this mindset by directly involving
them in productive projects, developing the programs and policies, but also
involving directly international tourist' associations in order to target broader
segments.

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Executive Summary

1.1 South Africa is a unique country geographically, culturally and historically. This
southernmost country in the Africa continent is witness to the meeting of two
oceans - the Indian Ocean to its right and the Atlantic Ocean on its left. Famous
for its Table Mountain, South Africa is home to nine UNESCO World Heritage sites
and 20 National Parks. Johannesburg or ‘City of Gold’ is the largest city in South
Africa. Two other major cities, Cape Town and Durban are well known as melting
pots of cultures.

1.2 As ironic as it may sound, South Africa’s dark past has put her in a unique
position as far as nation branding is concerned, thanks to Nelson Mandela, the
honorable anti-apartheid activist who freed his nation from 48 years of sufferings.
Mandela’s appointment as the first South Africa’s black president in 1994 also
marked the beginning of a new SA that began to open her door. Technically
speaking, the tourism industry in SA is only 24 years old. This year, as SA
celebrates the centennial celebration of Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2018), the
UNWTO has ranked SA as second in the Africa continent in terms of tourist arrival,
and 38th out of 50 countries under NBI.

1.3 This commendable progress can be attributed to the government’s initiative in

2002, in establishing Brand South Africa, a central official body responsible for
promoting SA’s brand image. It is tasked to develop and implement a coordinated
marketing, communications and reputation management strategies through a
consistent campaign which is also known as Brand South Africa.

1.4 In an effort to further strengthen its commitment to elevate SA’s brand image,
the South Africa government has published the National Tourism Sector Strategy
which is a ten-year strategy from 2016 to 2026 detailing specific implementation
plans for growing the tourism economy by leveraging on SA’s uniqueness in
nature, culture and heritage.

1.5 This report evaluates the effectiveness of South Africa’s current strategy on
branding and positioning SA as a preferred tourist destination. Assessment on
brand identity is carried out using Aaker’s model. Analysis is further made on the
brand’s differentiation from its competitors; the target market segmentation and
positioning; branding competitive analysis and marketing mix analysis from 7Ps
perspective.

1.6 The report concludes with a list of recommendation to improve the South
Africa’s country branding by increasing tourism budget allocations; conducting a
more thorough market segmentation research; fostering impactful partnerships
with brand ambassadors; increasing sustainability of branding campaigns; and
intensifying digital marketing efforts. By implementing the proposed improvement

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plans, South Arica may be able to better its position on the Nation Brand Index, to
the Top 30 ranking, in the medium term.

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 Appendix 2 – List of charts, figures and tables

Figure1. Evolution of tourists arriving to SA. Source: The Statistics Portal. (2018). Number of tourists in South Africa from 2006 to
2022. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/300683/number-of-tourists-in-south-africa/ (Accessed: 23 November
2018)

Figure 2. African country travelers. Source: SA people news.(2016, December 20). Tourists from Southern African Development
Community (SADC) countries. Retrieve from https://www.sapeople.com/2016/12/20/top-10-overseas-countries-visiting-south-africa/
(Accessed: 23 November 2018)

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Figure 3. The Top 10 Countries where most of SA's tourists come from. Source: Louzel Lombard, Traveller 24.(2016, April 8). The
Top 10 Countries where most of SA's tourists come from. [Online] Available at
https://www.traveller24.com/Explore/BusinessTravel/the-top-10-countries-where-most-of-sas-tourists-come-from-20160408
(Accessed: 23 November 2018)

Table 1. Characteristics of inbound travellers to South Africa. Source: STATISTICS SOUTH AFRICA. Tourism and migration
(2018,June) Tourism and migration. [Online] Available at http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0351/P0351June2018.pdf
(Accessed: 23 November 2018)

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 Table 2. Comparison of Tourist arrivals from Afican countries.
Sources:

World Tourism Organization（UNWTO). UNWTO Tourism Highlights.(2016, June)[Online] Available at http://unwto-ap.org/wp-

content/uploads/2016/09/Tourism-Highlight-s-20116.pdf (Accessed: 23 November 2018)

WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL. TRAVEL & TOURISM ECONOMIC IMPACT 2018 SAUDI ARABIA(2018, March) [Online]
Available at https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2018/saudiarabia2018.pdf

WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL. TRAVEL & TOURISM ECONOMIC IMPACT 2017 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES(2017,
March) [Online] Available at https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-
2017/unitedarabemirates2017.pdf

WORLD TRAVEL & TOURISM COUNCIL. TRAVEL & TOURISM ECONOMIC IMPACT 2018 TURKEY(2018, March) [Online]
Available at https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2018/turkey2018.pdf

Independent Media (Pty) Ltd. Cape Town takes steps to tap into $220bn Muslim travel sector (2018, May 22) [Online] Available at
https://www.iol.co.za/travel/travel-news/cape-town-takes-steps-to-tap-into-220bn-muslim-travel-sector-15099391

Crescent Rating. WELCOME TO THE GLOBAL MUSLIM TRAVEL INDEX 2018(2018,April)[Online] Available at http://unwto-
ap.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Tourism-Highlight-s-20116.pdf (Accessed: 10 December 2018)

Table 3 South Africa Market Segmentation

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Appendix 3: Details of Marketing Mix

Product 1. Wide varieties within SA: natural assets such as safaris, clean
beach, city, canopy tours, iconic culture, heritage sites, sports
(quad biking, sports event such as world cup)
2. Serving big range of niches (business, eco, cultural, paleo,
adventure, sports, wine and gourmet tourism)
3. Certain safaris offer close animal interaction
4. SA also serve a specific niche for wildlife hunting
5. SA also host a number of international events for sports and
business events/conferences
1. Authentic experience (Barnes, J. 2018)
6. Original culinary
7. Conservation tourism
Price 1. Medium to luxurious
2. Travellers and consumers become more price conscious and
often compare the prices online, looking for best value offered
3. May be expensive for lower income groups
4. Discounted price as a sales promotion to travellers or rewarding
system (example writing reviews online)
5. Tour agents often packaged different travelling package
combined with other cities/regions for a lower price than the
actual price to attract travellers to travel more destinations.
6. Another form of promotional pricing where the trip to a specific
destination is free with other destinations, often offered in a
package.
Place 1. Travel agents counters and online bookings
2. User-friendly website to book tours
3. Peer review websites (Wikitravel, Tripadvisor,
whereivebeen.com) -encourage reviews from travellers in
exchange of discounts
4. Brandsouthafrica.com and southafrica.net both served more of
information platform rather than engaging the browsers.
5. Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter – update
events and traveller hot spot
6. Release of mobile app in 2015: Madiba’s Journey which
features tourists attraction in the life of Nelson Mandela, walking
in the shoes of iconic SA leader.
7. Tourists spots/destinations and accomodations: aesthetic
(Instagram worthy), location accessibility, facilities – not well
known
1. Millenials love to explore the lessed travelled and
uncommercialized places which makes them feel more
authentic and rich in new experiences. (Barnes, J. 2018)

18
 8. Market coverage: mainly focus on African continent, America,
UK, China and India
9. Strategy: “5-in-5” strategy to attract an additional five million
tourists in five years, by 2021, made up of four million more
international arrivals and one million more domestic holiday
trips.
10. Drought: The water shortage currently being experienced in the
Western, Eastern and Northern Cape of South Africa has
provided SA with an opportunity to position itself as a global
benchmark for how world-class cities respond to future climate
threats. #WaterWiseTourism
Promotion 1. Local campaigns and travel offers in African continent.
2. Promotion on business events/conferences.
3. Advertise on printed media (exploresouthafrica.co.za)
4. Collaboration with travel editors/writers (Eg. UK)
5. Exhibitions/Tradeshows (Eg. China)
6. Appearance in Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Youtube and
Pinterest, but did not utilize the internet technology.
7. Their official websites, brandsouthafrica.com and
southafrica.net only link to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and
Linkedin. The Instagram link in southafrica.net is faulty (Page
not found)
8. Instagram: @meetsouthafrica
9. No google, google ads, retargeting, and no online advertising.
10. Activities in China and India boosted the tourists
11. Reality TV show competition where UK people participate in SA
landscape
12. Partnership with airlines
13. Sponsored bloggers on “Experience SA” trip
People 1. National Tourism Organization SA Tourism, Public agency
Brand South Africa, government, travel agencies and other,
private sectors (hospitality), local citizens, event organizers,
aviation and airports, frontline customer service, guide
staffs/skilled workforce, travellers, media
2. All parties should improve on internal marketing to motivate
staff and provide training as happy workforce leads to happy
customers.
Process 1. Convenience and ease of travel procedures: Tours on
schedule, smooth travelling experience, flight towards SA
experience, immigration airport experience, visa application,
(waiting time, payment process, efficiency)
 Waive visa for African continent since mid December 2017
 Waive visa for certain countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco,
United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Belarus,
Georgia, Cuba etc)

19
  48 countries does not require visas for visits up to 90 days and
28 countries up to 30 days
 Ease of visa application process via e-visa system and could
be done by courier, easier for tourists from China and India.
 Long term multiple entry visa for business travellers
 Children are able to travel to SA since September 2018. In the
past all minors must hold their own passport and unabridged
birth certificate to fight human trafficking.

2. Great air transport with many airports within SA, but need
improvement with land transportation .
3. Security and safety needs while travelling in SA.
Physical Mobile friendly Website, comfortable vehicles, layout and design of
Evidence hotels and resorts, travelling hot spots
Branding 1. There is no tangible cues tied to SA
2. Word of mouth from other travellers: recommendations by
family and friends, testimonials and reviews online. WOM have
a high impact on potential tourists’ decisions.
3. Most WOM from family and friends focus on the safety issues.
Other e-WOM comes from online reviews and influencers.
Politics Corruption, no political department are willing to quickly resolve the
visa issue, management of national, regional, local politics, Political
bodies must see SA branding as long term approach rather than short
term
Paucity 1. Limited tourism budget for global branding
2. Competition with other global destination brands which have
larger budgets such as Turkey, New Zealand
3. Increasing media costs in highly competitive market globally
4. Water crisis “day-zero”
5. Aviation capacity to SA, chosen not to declare open skies (but
Zimbabwe have declared open skies to encourage more
tourists)
6. Education and poverty: lack of skilled work force, leading to high
rates of unemployment and majority of the population is still at
the bottom of pyramid

20
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