Tourism: The Tourist Verdict is in; South Africa is Safe… What Happens Now?

This article was contributed by Jim Heck, co-president of Explorers World Travel

The World Cup dramatically improved South Africa’s tourism potential, and it may finally present a chance to develop a much greater and more promising South African tourism than in the past. Opportunities abound...

But hurry. It definitely won’t last.

Americans are truly surprised when told that the Dutch settled South Africa more than a decade before than British landed at Pilgrim’s Rest. And except for the exposure that South African Miss Universes garnered for nearly a century, most Americans thought of South Africa as just another mysterious part of that deep, dark continent.

The turbulence that accompanied the end of apartheid, the negative media before and after (invoking a bloodbath and creating unmanageable crime, respectively) only reinforced the perception of South Africa as another African quagmire. That’s changed, big time, thanks to the World Cup. And the opportunities are exceptional, but very time-limited, for new inbound tourist businesses to reap the rewards the Springboks didn’t.

One of the more respectable tourist polling organizations is PRWeek. In an article titled, “South Africa Shines”, the magazine describes how the World Cup massively changed British perceptions of South Africa.

An emphatic 66% of the 3,000 respondents to the survey said the World Cup had improved their perceptions of the country. 56% said the country was “Quite Safe.” Just a month before, the same polling apparatus received flipped results. 56% said the country was “Not Safe.”

South Africa pulled off the World Cup through some of the most difficult obstacles: poor initial infrastructure, labor turbulence, and a world economic decline. But perhaps the single greatest obstacle that was overcome was the perception that South Africa was an unsafe African country.

When South Africa – like all the rest of Africa – was considered a risky destination, the only growth market in tourism was in safaris. (Yes, the place might be a bit unsafe, but hell, going to see lions in the first place is unsafe!) Now, that South Africa is “safe” ...

Rental cars might return to fashion. Beach stays might not require the added security promises. Train travel – and not just on Rovos or the Blue Train – could really take off. Everything that an independent traveler going abroad might consider can now be considered in “safe” South Africa.

I remember many long meetings in the nineties with South African Airways and their polling organizations working time and again on the right phrase by which to market South Africa. I doubt anyone will now suggest “Safe South Africa”, but that, in fact, is the current perception.

So run with it. Faster please, then the Springboks.

Jim Heck is the co-founder of Explores World Travel. Explorers World Travel, Inc. (EWT) was incorporated in Chicago in 1979 by the husband/wife team of Kathleen Morgan and James Heck. For three years prior to that the couple ran a tour company called Morgan Tours. The company continues to be managed and owned exclusively by Heck and Morgan. EWT began as an operator of worldwide natural history tours for zoos, museums, alumni associations and other not-for-profits. In the late 1980s a separate division, EWT Consulting, was formed which provides media placement, worldwide marketing strategy and strategic business planning for foreign tour companies.

Jim also writes a very successful African Affairs blog


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