In vogue SOUTH AFRICA
After two years of declining visitor numbers, South Africa is now back on the ‘hot list’ with operators reporting rising demand, particularly for safari and adventure holidays, says Steve Hartridge
F
ew destinations have swung ‘in and out of vogue’ quite the way South Africa has in
recent times. Although a long-time favourite of Brits, due to its winter sunshine, ‘shared history’, scenic beauty, wildlife, and attractions that include cosmopolitan Cape Town, the Winelands and the Garden Route, tourism to South Africa has been teetering on the edge of the doldrums in recent years. The anticipated wave of extra
visitors after the country hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup failed to materialize; in fact in the two years after the tournament numbers fell away considerably compared to
42 April 2013
the two years (2008/09) leading up to ‘2010’. South Africa did a near-impeccable job organising the tournament but with the action on the fi eld dull and often played out in sheeting rain, it wasn’t the rosiest showcase for the country. Moreover, infl ated prices, introduced for the tournament but kept in place after, and an unfavourable exchange rate kept visitors away. This came as a shock to those
people who had invested thousands, if not millions of rands into hotel upgrades and other infrastructure. However, almost three years on there’s a growing sense that South Africa is back on the ‘hot list’, a momentum
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boosted at the start of the year by two major television series and a collapsing rand that sees those holiday pounds stretch substantially further (although the rand had strengthened by mid-March). David Attenborough’s BBC Africa series, and, to a lesser extent, Charley Boorman’s South Africa Adventure, which aired on Channel 5 and featured the adventurer/presenter doing activities such as abseiling off Table Mountain and swimming and ‘cage diving’ with great white sharks, has piqued interest in the country’s wildlife and adrenalin experiences and sparked a bookings surge, say tour operators.
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