Tourism’s tentacles run wide, reaching industries from manufacturing to transport. One such sector, arts and culture, has helped tourism establish a foothold in the economy.
It is time that both arts and culture and tourism, reinvent themselves to attract a new kind of tourist – one that is young, with a fair amount of money to spend and a hunger to travel.
It is for this reason that Thungela has partnered with the Ndebele artist, Dr Esther Mahlangu, to open her art studio in her home village of Mthambothini, Mpumalanga.
This is our first step contributing towards growing sustainable cultural tourism in one of the regions we operate. It presents us with an exciting opportunity to help local communities exercise their entrepreneurial muscle and to show their willingness to do business on a global stage.
Township and rural economies are made up of small and medium-sized businesses that are vital to the development of our tourist economy.
Homestays, guided tours and cultural experiences are just some of the tourist business ideas that currently exist. They offer the tourists a slice of life in these areas.
Getting tourists to these places requires marketing campaigns that guarantee an authentic rural or township experience, albeit with improved basic services and mobility. Moreover, entrepreneurs and their employees need tourism-specific training to ensure longevity in the sector.
Government initiatives that currently exist do help with enhancing the resilience and competitiveness of SMMEs through training and funding programmes.
Culture-based tourism, however, needs more than government initiatives and infrastructural improvements to succeed. For arts and culture to become a tourist drawcard, we need to tap into new inbound tourism sources coming out of developing nations.
In 2023, SA welcomed more than eight-million tourists – a 40% increase from the previous year. The government is looking to boost that number to 15-million by 2030.
The sector contributes a little more than three percent to the GDP and is expected to rise in the coming years. To guarantee tourism growth, we would need to turn our attention to the new affluent markets in developing nations.
According to StatsSA, 20% of foreign arrivals are from our traditional markets of Europe and North America. Nearly 30% of inbound tourists come for the wildlife. It is a great feat and one that owes its legacy to the marketing of a bygone era.
The country’s rich cultural heritage is yet to make such a mark on the tourist economy.
Untapped sources lie in the Middle East, India and China, all of which have burgeoning high-income earners eager for new and authentic travel experiences. SA can use its cultural heritage to lure these new markets.
For instance, the Chinese art market is the second largest in the world, making up 21% of global art sales, according to the World Economic Forum. A significant portion of that is foreign art. This is because its expanding middle class has a growing appetite for foreign art and global culture.
Additionally, Chinese streaming platforms and museums are collaborating with international institutions to bring foreign art and exhibitions to their audiences. This gives South African artists a great chance to showcase their work to a new audience.
Combine these new markets with subliminal marketing on streaming platforms and we may have a winning formula.
SA’s unique and much-loved cultural assets enthral the world and create a basis for expanded cultural contact. Galleries clamour over works by Mahlangu, Zanele Muholi and Nelson Makamo. Grammy award winner, Tyla and comedian, Trevor Noah fly our flag high in the entertainment world.
Within the global frenzy for everything South African lies a powerful yet rarely tapped cultural opportunity: that of film-induced tourism.
In the age of streaming services and the subsequent surge in production, film-induced tourism opens a new door for tourism businesses to thrive. There are two types of tourists that it attracts: the film crew and the viewers.
Azania Muendane, the founder of Locations Africa, told audience members at Meetings Africa last year that the varied seasons and scenery, and cost-effective locations, has made SA a ripe destination for filmmakers. It is no wonder our film industry has an average annual growth rate of 15% since 2013.
A crew can make up 38% of film personnel. One set can have 1,000 people. This means every international production shot in SA can create jobs and stimulate small business activity particularly amongst hospitality and car rental industries.
On the consumer side of film-induced tourism, young earners are eager to visit destinations they see on their favourite television show. In 2017, more than 80-million global tourists chose destinations based on films or television series they had watched. Product placement and shots of landmarks invoke a desire to travel to a particular place.
The content deal between South African Tourism and Netflix made last year is one of the more innovative ways of stimulating cultural tourism.
With social media and streaming services providing new platforms for marketing reach, we can create local narratives that are globally appealing and ultimately make SA a preferred destination.
- Rasivhaga is head of communications at Thungela
This post was originally published on here
