Tourism: Now is the Time to Build on the Hard-Earned Successes of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa

This article was contributed by Paul Cohen, President, Partner Concepts

Sports fans around the world owe a hearty wish of ‘congratulations’ to the people, government and corporate community of South Africa for their success in hosting the 2010 World Cup. South Africa can now be counted among the world’s elite host venues for global sporting events. But even after so much hard work, a new challenge is just beginning – a challenge for South Africa, if not for all of Africa – because now is the time to build on and leverage this success to raise awareness globally that Africa is home to a plethora of world-class tourism destinations.


Travel and tourism is the single biggest industry in the world and provides a basis for incremental economic development unlike any other business sector. Tourists from the U.S.A., Europe, Asia and South America bring money in local economies with a multiplying effect by creating jobs in several sectors, from hospitality to airlines to retail, dining and construction. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the travel and tourism industry accounts for more than eight percent of Africa’s total GDP and generates more than 10 million jobs.

Yet, US arrivals to destinations in Africa are less than five percent of those to Asia and the Caribbean, and less than three percent of those to Europe. The opportunity for growth is immense.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa delivered an invaluable message to travelers and the travel trade around the world, overcoming misconceptions about distance, affordability, language barriers, safety and health. “Perception is reality,” as they say, and the images were positive and affirming. The weeks and months of positive headlines and broadcasts from South Africa provided a welcome break from the stream of less positive African stories that usually reach the U.S. market. Now that the World Cup is over, the stream of positive stories must continue.

As a leisure travel destination, Africa’s beauty, landscape, culture, affordability, diversity and overall appeal are under-appreciated by U.S. international travelers. To expand U.S. outbound travel to Africa and compete with other destinations, African nations must band together to break through the communication noise. The time is now to promote Africa as a single travel destination.

Destinations in the Caribbean, Asia and Europe have been working together for more than 20 years to cooperatively promote tourism to their regions in the U.S. market. A sustainable regional campaign for Africa offers several benefits, including:

• Building greater consumer awareness of Africa and her diverse tourism attributes throughout the United States;

• Capturing a growing share of the U.S. outbound traveler market;

• Dispelling commonly-held American misconceptions that create perceived barriers to Africa travel;

• Providing needed leverage for African nations to more efficiently reach the American market;

• Promoting and supporting those travel suppliers serving Africa.

Tactics for such a cooperative, ongoing marketing campaign should include print supplements in leading U.S. publications; a website targeted to U.S. travelers; sustained and coordinated public relations activities; database marketing to U.S. travel agents and travel consumers; and increased, coordinated presence at U.S. travel shows.

Before most American travel consumers will ever visit Ghana, or Tanzania, or Zambia, or Mozambique, the need to choose Africa as a travel destination. They need to know what to see and do, as well as how to get here and where to stay. They need an answer to the question, Why Africa?

The time is now to work together to answer that question. African tourism ministers, embassies, member organizations plus U.S.-based and African corporations and travel suppliers all need to come to the table to define a ‘Destination Africa’ strategy now, and for the future. As Henry Ford once said, “coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, but working together is success.”

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa proved what is possible for Africa. Let us build on this success to make the next decade a time of opportunity for the many outstanding tourist destinations of Africa.

Paul Cohen is President of Partner Concepts LLC a strategic travel marketing firm headquartered just outside of Washington, D.C. with offices in Southern California, San Francisco, Shanghai, Beijing, Hanoi and Bangkok. Partner Concepts develops partnership marketing programs for destinations and Fortune 500 companies around the world, including Botswana Tourism and Ethiopian Airlines, among many others.