The international perception of South Africa’s safety as a destination has improved considerably but the perception is an ongoing challenge to marketing the country as a tourist destination, says Thulani Nzima, CEO of SA Tourism.
Nzima was speaking to Tourism Update on the back of the 35th Annual Crime Stoppers International Conference, which is taking place in Cape Town from October 12-15. He said SA Tourism had partnered with the conference because it made sense to join hands with people who were championing the same cause.
“Crime Stoppers International is engaged in a very important job for us, especially as a destination,” said Nzima. “We are constantly faced with the challenge of having to deal with perceptions of safety and security.”
He said the partnership offered an opportunity to compare notes and look at what was happening around the world because crime and concerns around safety and security were not an exclusively South African issue. He added that it was important for SA to be part of the conversation.
Nzima said it is important to understand the relativity of crime. “Big cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town are no different to big cities like New York and London, ” he said, adding that there were parts of New York and parts of London that were not safe, even for locals. He said only 1.2% of criminal activity affected tourists. “We are not saying it’s a good number. Any small incident that affects our tourists is one too many.”
Research, he said, had shown that 18% of people made decisions about visiting a destination based on how they felt about it from a safety point of view, underlining that safety did have an impact on tourism.
Nzima said, in general terms, SA had a very high awareness level as a holiday and business events destination in international markets, but when it came to converting this awareness to bookings, the country faced challenges.
“In countries such as the UK, the awareness level [of South Africa] as a holiday and business events destination sits in the region of about 94%,” said Nzima. However, he pointed out that, when it came to how positive people in the UK were about SA, this dropped to about 38%. “Eventually, only about 12% convert into bookings to South Africa.
“We believe that if we can close the gap in terms of how positively people perceive SA and dispel the myths about safety and security, then we can do a lot better.”
According to Nzima, SA’s image in terms of safety and security has improved a lot. He attributed this in part to the successful hosting of an incident-free Soccer World Cup in 2010. “Year in and year out, we continue to show growth in tourism. People are voting with their feet.” He added that, by word of mouth, the message was also spreading that SA was safe.