As part of its strategy to promote Johannesburg as Africa's "most vibrant business and leisure destination"‚ the Johannesburg Tourism Company (JTC) participated in South African Tourism's series of China Trade Workshops earlier this month‚ having visited Beijing‚ Shanghai and Hong Kong.
"With the Brics markets identified as a priority for South African tourism‚ as well as the increasing visitor numbers from Asia and China‚ it is essential for us to entrench Johannesburg's position on the African continent within the Asian and Chinese context‚" said Phelisa Mangcu‚ JTC's acting CEO.
Laura Vercueil‚ communication manager at the JTC‚ said that the tourism sector was among the city's major performers in enabling the city to be SA's largest contributor to the GDP.
"In terms of the city's growth and development strategy‚ tourism remains an economic growth imperative on the city's agenda. It is an important catalyst to encourage the development of the small- and medium-sized enterprises sector in order to encourage the growth and development of a vibrant second economy‚" Vercueil said.
Vercueil said that the tourism sector was labour intensive‚ and had the ability to absorb "a large number of semi-skilled people - mostly women and youth".
"In addition‚ tourism is also a sector dominated by small‚ medium and micro enterprises with low barriers to entry.
"As a result‚ the City of Johannesburg takes the sector seriously and actively engages in development research and destination marketing in an attempt to grow tourism arrivals‚ receipts‚ improve geographic spread and to reduce seasonality‚" she said.
Mangcu said that along with "improved air access" with the direct Beijing flight to Johannesburg‚ the city had a diverse product offering that did not focus solely on business travel‚ to entice the Asian market.
"Of particular interest to the Asian market are gaming and golfing and Johannesburg boasts plenty of options where these are concerned‚" Mangcu said.
According to the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index‚ the three cities where most visitors to Johannesburg originated from were London (328‚000 people this year)‚ Frankfurt (196‚000 people) and Dubai (166‚500 people). Combined‚ these visitors are expected to inject US$975 million into the city's economy in terms of cross-border spend during 2012.
Johannesburg will be the second most visited destination city in Africa‚ with a projected 2.5 million international visitors expected to enter the city in 2012‚ according to the index. In addition‚ international visitors are projected to spend more while visiting Johannesburg than any other destination city on the continent‚ with US$3.3 billion (about R27.8-billion) estimated to be injected into the city during 2012‚ an increase of 8.1% on 2011's figures.
The visit to China was "fruitful"‚ Vercueil said‚ adding that JTC had gained firsthand knowledge about the Chinese market.
"For example‚ we found it interesting that in Shanghai and Beijing‚ most of the people we met were interested in leisure and holiday travel‚ as opposed to those we met in Hong Kong‚ who were solely focused on business travel - for investment purposes‚ as well as for meetings‚ conferences and incentive travel‚" she said.
"Johannesburg and Shanghai have a memorandum of understanding in place and our visit certainly contributed to strengthening the commitments made in economic development at a more strategic level‚" Vercueil concluded.
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