Tourism: I Want My Piece Too

This article was contributed by Haben Berhe, SAIBL Associate

The World Cup was a smashing success. According to the accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton, an extra 1.5 million overseas visitors will visit South Africa between now and 2015, (Source) In addition to 700,000 tourists from other African countries, many of these 2.2. million visitors will undoubtedly contract large tourism and hospitality companies for services; however, well placed SME service providers can increase their share of tourist revenues by making smart partnerships, retaining customer loyalty, and maximizing their online exposure.

Forging strong partnerships in-country:

Building a service provider relationship with major hotel chains will increase the visibility of SMEs, as most international travelers choose to stay in familiar hotel chains. STR Global, a provider of market information to the global hotel industry, recently released a report on South African hotels that bore out this assessment. The report revealed that Sandton hotels(a popular international chain), reported the highest occupancy level (84%) in comparison to the preceding year.

If SMEs are to take advantage of such customer influx during sporting events or conference gatherings, nurturing their relationship with larger players in the industry through subcontracting or having their service information available at hotels will be crucial to accessing their customer base.

Retaining Customers:

For SMEs that had the opportunity to service customers during the World Cup, maintaining the customer relationship via targeted online communication is important if they want to see the same customers return. If customers were not happy with their experience they will spread the word once they get back home. Therefore, quality SME service providers should go out of their way to personalize their service, recognizing those customers are essentially “word-of-mouth” agents for the tourism company.

Service providers should then continue the customer relationship by extending discounted deals to return customers, and providing special rates to persons those loyal customers refer. Personalized service is the tourism SME’s selling point; large hotel chains and tour operators can not email each client to express gratitude or extend a special offer. But SMEs can.

Online Presence:

Another element that is inseparable from the customer relationship is a businesses’ online information. This is a customer’s first point of contact with a service provider. Therefore, it is essential that SMEs approach their website design carefully so that it conveys what they exactly offer. The slightest misrepresentation will often result in a loss of customer loyalty. Addressing the target market through visually appealing pictures, materials and products that sell the experience before they even reach their destination will influence customers’ decisions.

Brian Callahan of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide offers several suggestions for tailoring tourism marketing to select audiences; for instance, if the travelers are African American, build links with their sense of culture and heritage; if they are first and second generation African immigrants, tap their sense of pride in music, food, and culture so that they can talk about their experience in interesting ways.

Even though the share of business captured by SMEs will inevitably be small compared to their larger peers, taking these steps will help SMEs grab a slice of the rapidly expanding African tourism industry.

Haben Berhe, Associate, South Africa Business Linkages Program (SAIBL)