South African Tourism woos moviegoers to book an exciting holiday to South Africa

Published on : Wednesday, February 5, 2014

South African Tourism kick starts 2014 by launching an innovative new cinema advertising campaign across seven cities targeting 94 screens. Starting on 10th January 2014, this unique campaign comprises of an exciting 60-second video that showcases the stunning beauty and thrilling experiencesoffered by South Africa. Besides, for the first time ever, moviegoers in India get an opportunity to shop for an attractive holiday package to South Africa right at the cinema hall.
The ad campaign will run at major cinema halls across Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai during the screening of three of the most awaited Bollywood movies of 2014- Dedh Ishqiya starring Madhuri Dixit, Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Huma Qureshi, Jai Ho starring Salman Khan and Gunday starring Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor.With the ever increasing influence of Bollywood in the purchasing and brand consumption decisions of people, South African Tourism in association with their joint marketing partners Thomas Cook, Kulin Kumar Holidays, Kuoni and Club7 Holidays has planned an out-of-the-box initiative of setting up special kiosks at these select cinema halls to sell holiday packages to South Africa.
Besides showcasing the experiences on offer in South Africa, the 60-second ad will also launch the second season of the much-awaited contest “Take Me to South Africa 2.0” featuring South African Tourism’s brand ambassador, Jonty Rhodes. After receiving anoverwhelming response in 2013 the tourism board will announce the opening of the contest wherein, like last year, four lucky winners will get a chance to holiday in South Africa with Jonty Rhodes as their travel guide. Only difference being, this time the trip promises to be bigger, better and more action-packed!
Commenting on the campaign, Ms.Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, South African Tourism said, “We are very excited to launch our brand new cinema advertising campaign in India.Over the years, as we have expanded our destination marketing outreach in India, our attempt has been to keep innovating and creating campaigns that help us engage with our customers better. Today, every brand wants to be where there is a varied mix of captive audience available with an active mind space and a cinema hall is just the right place for it. Therefore, in the last couple of years, promoting South Africa through our cinema ad campaign has become an effective communication tool in our overall marketing campaign.”
“Today, cinema advertising has moved beyond the screen. Therefore, this year, we wanted to take the experience of South Africa beyond the visual excitement building through screening of the ad video. In an endeavour to do so, we decided to use the entire cinema going experience as an innovative platform to engage with our customers and to create a call to action by offering them exciting holiday packages to South Africa in partnership with four of the best travel companies in India.” added Ms. Slabber.
Pratik Shah, COO, Kulin Kumar Holidays said “We are indeed excited and looking forward to the new strategic plan opted by South African Tourismto meet the consumers directly at the theatre screens. This way we will be able to share first-hand information and experience with the customers. We have planned a 10-Nights itinerary which covers most of the family oriented tourist places in South Africa as per conducted tour departures which will attract families and couples. For the youth travellers and honeymooners, we have packed in more of adventure,self-drive package food, wine & nature. The packages offered by us are being very attractively priced and we are sure it will be a great deal for the customers.”
ShibaniPhadkar, Senior Vice President & Head – Leisure Travel (Outbound) Products, Contracting, Operations & Tour Management, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd commented, “As part of our holistic Thomas Cook India – South African Tourism partnership, we are excited with the launch of our unique “on-ground cinema activation” at key multiplexes in Mumbai & Delhi. This direct consumer engagement forms a powerful tool in our consumer outreach strategy at Thomas Cook India – to interact with potential travellers while showcasing attractive destinations like South Africa. Malls and Multiplexes have today become a favoured port of call for India’s consumer, and this on-ground cinema engagement is hence a perfect fit! Our product team at Thomas Cook India, has designed an exciting range of packages including both family centric escorted tours, romantic getaways, self-drive vacations and interest based experiential itineraries for today’s discerning Indian traveller. At Thomas Cook India, itineraries under our “Personalised Holidays” highlight South Africa’s diversity of travel gems: from stunning vistas of the Garden Route to the Botanical Garden of Kirstenbosch; an exciting tour of South Africa on a horse-back; the famed Stellenbosch wine trails; dining at Michelin Star restaurants; sleep under the stars at Lion Sands Game Reserve; accommodation as varied as rugged farm stays to the exotic Pezula Castle; uber luxury at Karkloof Safari Spa and its unique concept of timelessness and an adrenalin rush at safari camps and game reserves at Amakhala.”
Aparna Chaturvedi Basumallick, CEO, Club7 Holidays said “We at club 7 are extremely excited to be a part of the South Africa’s cinema campaign and are looking forward to the promotion. Through this innovative initiative, Club7 Holidays in partnership with South African Tourism hopes to extend exciting South African holiday packages to travellers which include escorted tours, closed groups, private vacations, honey moons and family vacations. For the last 5 – 6 years club 7 has seen at steady growth in the number of people travelling to South Africa with club7 andwe are very positive about garnering a great response to our packages through this activity.”
Vishal Suri, Chief Executive Officer, Tour Operating, Kuoni India commented, “It gives us immense pleasure to partner with South African Tourism for the innovative Cinema Campaign. South Africa is a preferred holiday destination amongst Indian leisure travellers. With the objective of promoting South Africa, the Cinema promotion provides the perfect opportunity for Kuoni- SOTC to reach out to a larger set of holiday seekers across our key markets. This is an innovative platform & campaign to promote our holiday propositions to South Africa and engage with our target customers who wish to explore and experience scenic South Africa at its best.”
Over the years, South African Tourism has witnessed a tremendous increase in Indian tourist arrivals to South Africa. 76,116 Indian tourists have visited South Africa between Jan 2013 to August 2013 which is an increase of 8.4% vis-à-vis the same period last year.