"It's more than just safari, it’s the beautiful cosmopolitan cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town, it’s the wine region."’s State of the Nation Address in June set out government’s plans to double international tourist arrivals to 21 million by 2030.
“Is it doable – we believe so. I think from a North America perspective, we are looking at a situation where we have to grow this market between 7 and 8% every year for the next ten years. We’ve been there before, we’ve grown this market 10% plus, we are currently growing at about 3.4%. With enough effort, the right partnerships, best story-telling that comes out of South Africa, I believe we can achieve it,” says President of SA Tourism North America Jerry Mpufane.
“Out of North America currently, SA receives the majority of the traveler in that demographic from 25-45 already. We also know that somewhere between 23-25% it is the 18-25 demographic so the traveling segments of North America are already getting younger and younger, so our job is to protect the big numbers coming out of the seniors, the big numbers coming out of the 55 plus but we have this opportunity where we can get – particularly adventure travelers coming into South Africa.