Both government-run and private reserves of Southern Africa have come a long way since the beginning of the century when local people where simply displaced from their traditional lands to make way for sprawling establishments. For example, The Kruger, one of the continent's best-known game reserves covering an area bigger than Israel, is in the process of a massive expansion into a shared concern between Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The park has long been at the forefront of expert game management techniques and has recently begun granting concessions to private game lodge owners who want to attract the serious eco-tourist with deep pockets. While the Kruger still caters to the budget traveler, providing quality accommodations and cheap access to animals, its concessions will attract the person who wants five-star luxury in addition to personalized service.

According to the voluminous material distributed by the group, the building of Brand South Africa will include a "process that re-defines and refines the tourism brand in a customer-focused fashion to ensure who we are as a destination, and the needs and desires of the key audiences (i.e., tourists) for that brand." South African Tourism's research indicated that before this initiative, South Africa did not place key attributes in the mind of the consumer, and had therefore failed to properly define itself in the mind of the prospective tourist.

To overcome this, South African Tourism has embarked on a program designed to turn tourists into "tourism ambassadors for South Africa." To this end, South African Tourism has identified four main brand audiences, which the organization attempts to reach through its marketing. These audiences are broken down into "Luxury in Africa," which includes the high-end game lodge traveler; "Africa as Hip," which is essentially the backpacker and party crowd; "South Africa for Entertainment and Business," which includes the low budget and professional business traveler and conference attendee; and the "Value for Money in Africa" group, which South African Tourism considers to be the family travel segment.

The "Luxury in Africa" segment is a brand audience that South Africa knows well and which, according to its literature, "in the past dominated what we have sold and developed from a product point of view." Yet this segment is now targeting a subdivision referred to as the NSSA or "Next Stop South Africa" group of travelers. These are the true jetsetters who have seen much of what the world has to offer and are ready to check South Africa off their list. The travelers are targeted across the US rather than in the traditional South African tourism markets of Europe and the UK. Seventy-eight percent of them are over the age of 55 but they are among the most adventurous travellers South Africa attracts. With average annual household incomes of over US$ 100,000, these are the least cost-conscious visitors. They comprise the bulk of visitors who come to the eco-lodges.

But they don't come easily. Shona Bagley, Group Editor at Conservation Corporation Africa a group of camps across six African counties, says that CC Africa "directs much of our branding efforts at high income, low impact eco-tourists." She points out that "these [people] are 'owned' by tour operators and travel agents, so we have a two-pronged branding strategy with these operators." Bagley said, "our sales team attend trade shows and workshops and set up one-on-one meetings where they educate the people crucial to our business and our brand." This process is critical because the agents and travel companies representing CC Africa have to be constantly kept abreast of new developments and lodges. "Our marketing team also creates advertisements and places them in relevant B2B and B2C publications to raise awareness of our brand. We also channel suitable journalists to our lodges to experience our 'care of the land, care of the people' ethos first-hand."

Bagley, like every other successful brand manager, believes that consistency in communication materials also helps create a strong and stable brand in the marketplace. "I believe that consistent branding, such as our Bateleur Eagle logo, consistent Trajan typeface, distinctive look to all the ads and brochures we produce, plus our constant reiteration of our commitment to conservation development, rural community development and a top-class wildlife and lodge experience for guests, all maintain our identity."

Will eco-tourism in South Africa succeed? Only time will tell, but it seems the cooperative effort between both the government and tourist facilities to build a brand based not only on revenue, but on protecting the land and the people, is strong. And the tourist organizations' promise to remain committed to preserving the habitat is exactly what will sustain the offering itself as the tourist market grows.    

[28-Oct-2002]