June 20, 2007

More Kenyans visiting South Africa for business

Written by Solomon Mburu

Kenyans are visiting South Africa as business tourists and spending large as shoppers in the region’s biggest economy.

Figures released by South African Tourism (SAT), the country’s State tourism agency, show that 27 per cent of Kenyan visitors go for business, while 31 per cent combine business travel with tourism.

“The Kenyan tourist engages in shopping and nightlife, while they are here on business,” said Hulisani Thabela, a trade relations manager with SAT, which takes on the role of marketing South Africa to foreign tourist markets.

“Kenyans love the scenic beauty and the good infrastructure South Africa has to offer,” she added. The SA agency said the provinces seeing most visits from Kenyan travellers are Gauteng, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. The average length of stay for Kenyan visitors is a lengthy 11 nights.

Ms Thabela said that while a Kenyan traveller might visit Johannesburg, the country’s biggest city, located in Gauteng province, they can also stop by major shopping facilities located at nearby Sandton City, where world-renowned brands like Alfred Dunhill, Mont Blanc, Polo, Truworths and Edgars are sold.

And all of South Africa’s major cities, which include Cape Town and Durban, offer urban entertainment options. SA Tourism says many Kenyan visitors also take advantage of a locally-developed tourism concept targeting business travellers — Businessunusual — that provides business lessons drawn from the various cultures and history of South Africa.The country uses its image as a progressive and economically powerful nation built out of diversity and racial conflicts to teach business tourists some lessons in harmony and African leadership.

The tourists sample the geographic spread of other parts of the country, “which offers the traveller increased exposure to more exciting experiences,” said Ms Thabela.

SA Tourism’s integrated strategy for Africa has identified Kenya as one its core markets, and it sees the country as a “launch pad” into Tanzania and Uganda.

This July, the agency has organised road shows to take place in Nairobi, Dar- es -Salaam and Kampala, during which workshops will be held with local travel agents. The South African tourism promotion body says that it is in constant discussions with key stakeholders in South Africa to create travel packages targeted to the Kenyan market with value for money.

“With the Kenyan traveller being one of SA Tourism’s core target market it is vital for SA Tourism to communicate its value for money offering, the variety of activities one can engage in while in South Africa, and that the Kenyan traveller is always welcome in all nine provinces of South Africa,” says the agency. At the annual Indaba, the premier travel trade show in Africa, which took place in Durban Kwazulu Natal recently, SA Tourism hosted media delegates from Kenya in a bid to sell the country and encourage more Kenyan visitors. Kenya provided 22,000 tourists into South Africa last year, with Tanzania and Uganda combining for an equal number.