He looks remarkable in his grey coloured jacket as he walks into the hotel lobby. Hloni Pitso may look unassuming in his small frame but he has done well for himself to have climbed slowly but steadily the corporate ladder at South African Tourism. Now as the Hloni Pitso, South African Tourism regional manager, West Africa, he is at the forefront of championing the campaign of why Nigerians should travel to South Africa.
Pitso has a 17-year track record of distinction in the travel and tourism industry. He started his career whilst still a student at Boston City Campus when he was chosen to join the HRG Rennies Travel Learnership Programme which was swiftly followed, upon graduation, by his appointment as a travel consultant to Rennies. He has also worked at Air Botswana and as a sales executive at Protea Hotels where, after eight months, he was promoted to Sales Manager: Africa.
Hloni joined the Africa team at South African Tourism five years ago as the Trade Relations Manager: East Africa. He takes up the Regional Manager: West Africa position after having served as the Regional Trade Relations Manager: East and West Africa. As part of his appointment, he has since relocated to Lagos, Nigeria, to work out of South African Tourism’s first regional marketing office on the continent.
As regional manager, West Africa, he has a mandate to implement a marketing strategy for all West African markets and work to develop and grow trade, media and other stakeholder relationships to ensure continued robust tourist arrival growth from West to South Africa.
At the just concluded Akwaaba Travel Market held at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, South African Tourism exhibited South Africa’s tourism offerings.
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“Akwaaba is an important West Africa Travel show which South African Tourism leverages on to market destination South Africa,” says Pitso. “Our participation was also a commitment to the Nigerian market and an additional launch-pad to reach out to the West Africa region. For instance, our tourist arrivals from Nigeria have continued to show a progressive incline. In 2013, Nigeria, the largest air market for South Africa’s tourist arrivals, grew by 15.4 percent to almost 85, 000 arrivals (exact figure is 84, 589). The increase in tourist arrival numbers has buoyed our confidence that Nigeria is indeed the correct market to invest our marketing initiatives.”
According to him, Nigeria is an important market to South Africa Tourism, it is for this reason the tourism bureau has decided to open an office in Nigeria’s commercial centre, Lagos.
“Nigeria is an attractive location for marketing,” he explains, “efforts due to increased air traffic from international destinations with a steady flow of passengers from Ghana and the ECOWAS regions. Our office in Lagos is to firstly help us with our work of growing arrivals from this market. Secondly, it is to use as springboard into the West Africa region as a whole, which we have communicated is pivotal to our strategy. Our presence, via the SA Tourism office, will further strengthen our trade relations with key the stakeholders who are integral to helping us achieve these objective of growing arrivals from these markets to South Africa.”
He also says SAT’s strategies in Nigeria are targeted at the consumer and are trade driven. “We want to equip the trade to be able to package quality and value for money leisure experiences that can be proudly shared with peers. And we want to show consumers the extensive range of unique and premium tourism offerings and experiences to be found in South Africa. Key to showcasing this is hosting media for FAM trips (often) ties in with key music and trade events (Indaba) and at the end, giving a leisure experience we know our market would be keen in.”
In addition he observes that South Africa has interesting sceneries to offer young, savvy adventurous Nigerians. “South Africa offers a range of bespoke, premier tourism offerings. These include shopping centres with high end boutique stores, a bustling night life to be found in Johannesburg and Cape Town….in fact if you’re lucky you may bump into a Hollywood star or one of our own renowned celebrities. For the adventure seeking tourist, if bungee jumping is your idea of fun, try the Orlando Towers or Bloukrans Bridge in PE, Eastern Cape which happens to be the world’s highest commercial bridge. We are a destination that is able to package and package well a holiday experience to suit your needs and your interests, ensuring you have a memorable and fulfilling stay,” he says.
Pitso also argues that South Africa’s accessibility makes its destination of choice e for Nigerian travellers. “It’s a six-hour direct flight with no jet lag involved. More than this, South Africa’s city and urban infrastructure rivals that of the other destinations you speak of. South Africa – and especially the big cities , offers fantastic shopping, nightlife, entertainment. There’s excellent value for money to be had in South Africa, meaning your Naira will buy you more in South Africa than it will in the other destinations. For example, a three course dinner for two (with wine) in a fantastic restaurant in Cape Town will cost you about N8, 750. The same meal, in London for example, could will set you back at least twice that, if not more. The same principle applies to accommodation, a night on the town and general shopping But perhaps the biggest reason to choose South Africa over the other destinations is the South African people: warm, friendly and welcoming with a truly deep and authentic culture of service excellence… it’s the people who make this destination special. And it’s for the warm welcome you receive in South Africa that you should choose South Africa first.”
Music is one great entertainment platform through which both Nigeria and South Africa has seen tremendous progress and collaborations in recent years. Hence Pitso says is doing all it can to promote entertainment tourism. “South Africa is a fantastic entertainment, music and big concert destination. And certainly, collaboration between our two countries has done much to grow South Africa’s status as music and other event destination. We market these music events in many ways. There is much marketing work around the South African jazz festivals (Cape Town in February, and Johannesburg at end of September) both at home and across the continent, encouraging people to come to the two cities for these fantastic events. A number of other events also enjoy marketing attention: the Macufe Festival in Bloemfontein, for example (in October); and Maftown (in Mafikeng) in December. These are highlights on the tourism calendar for many Africans, and South Africa is delighted to welcome fans and party-goers to the country for the events. Our marketing work is in the form of media alerts, engagement on the social media, supporting the event organisers, trade news flashes and online, digital and mobile promotions of the event.”
FUNKE OSAE-BROWN
