TOURISM KWAZULU - NATAL STRENGTHENS INTERNATIONAL MARKETING TIES BY HOSTING HIGH-POWERED DIRCO DELEGATION AT TOURISM INDABA
Agency News
A high-powered Department of International Relations and Co-ordination (DIRCO) delegation, inclusive of 34 representatives based at South African embassies abroad, has gained valuable first-hand insights to Durban and KwaZulu-Natal as the country’s leading holiday and events destination thanks to discussions with and a comprehensive tour of the city hosted by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal.
The 38-strong DIRCO delegation’s visit co-incided with the staging in Durban of Tourism Indaba.
Commenting on discussions and the outcome of the tour, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal’s Chief Operations Officer, Ms Phindile Ngcobo, said: “KwaZulu-Natal is currently the only province in South Africa providing tourism marketing materials to embassies overseas through DIRCO for event and exhibition exposure.”
DIRCO has long been aware of the importance of the South African tourism sector to the country’s economy and the contribution it makes to ensuring growing prosperity for all South Africans. The Department has become increasingly active in promoting South Africa’s tourism benefits in the international arena, using a variety of mechanisms.
Ms Ngcobo added: “We of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal consider ourselves most fortunate to have developed a relationship with DIRCO which affords us the ability to ensure our marketing materials reach major events and exhibitions around the world which we, ourselves, are unable to attend. In essence, DIRCO representatives are marketing KwaZulu-Natal on our behalf by providing this service.”
Embassies have also indicated their willingness to feature and display an upmarket KwaZulu-Natal tourism brochure in their lounge areas.
“Of critical importance has been the ability now – for the first time – to greatly strengthen our existing working relationship with DIRCO by actually meeting overseas-based representatives and exposing many of those at the international coal-face with a true Durban experience.”
“This visit to Durban and Tourism Indaba has enabled us to arm embassy representatives with the knowledge to talk authoritatively about our destination, supported by the marketing literature we supply as we have been able to give them a far greater understanding of both Durban and KwaZulu-Natal than is possible by merely reading abut the destination,” Ms Ngcobo added.
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal distributes its marketing literature through 107 embassies world-wide in five different languages, inclusive of English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and German. Ms Ngcobo said that in the longer-term Tourism KwaZulu-Natal also aimed to introduce marketing materials in both Mandarin and Arabic given the growing interest in KwaZulu-Natal by new markets.
Commenting on discussions and the outcome of the tour, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal’s Chief Operations Officer, Ms Phindile Ngcobo, said: “KwaZulu-Natal is currently the only province in South Africa providing tourism marketing materials to embassies overseas through DIRCO for event and exhibition exposure.”
- TOURISM KWAZULUKleinz1 / Nature Photos / CC BY-NC-ND
DIRCO has long been aware of the importance of the South African tourism sector to the country’s economy and the contribution it makes to ensuring growing prosperity for all South Africans. The Department has become increasingly active in promoting South Africa’s tourism benefits in the international arena, using a variety of mechanisms.
Ms Ngcobo added: “We of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal consider ourselves most fortunate to have developed a relationship with DIRCO which affords us the ability to ensure our marketing materials reach major events and exhibitions around the world which we, ourselves, are unable to attend. In essence, DIRCO representatives are marketing KwaZulu-Natal on our behalf by providing this service.”
Embassies have also indicated their willingness to feature and display an upmarket KwaZulu-Natal tourism brochure in their lounge areas.
“Of critical importance has been the ability now – for the first time – to greatly strengthen our existing working relationship with DIRCO by actually meeting overseas-based representatives and exposing many of those at the international coal-face with a true Durban experience.”
“This visit to Durban and Tourism Indaba has enabled us to arm embassy representatives with the knowledge to talk authoritatively about our destination, supported by the marketing literature we supply as we have been able to give them a far greater understanding of both Durban and KwaZulu-Natal than is possible by merely reading abut the destination,” Ms Ngcobo added.
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal distributes its marketing literature through 107 embassies world-wide in five different languages, inclusive of English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and German. Ms Ngcobo said that in the longer-term Tourism KwaZulu-Natal also aimed to introduce marketing materials in both Mandarin and Arabic given the growing interest in KwaZulu-Natal by new markets.
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