Targets 1600 travel agents in 15 cities across India
One lucky travel agent from each city to win a free trip to South Africa.
Nagpur: South African Tourism’s popular training programme Learn South Africa is back with its unique class room style training. The sixth module of the training kick started on July 13, 2015 in Goa and has travelled to 14 other cities until August 4, 2015 to come to Nagpur.
Learn South Africa Training Programme was launched in 2010 with the objective to further intensify knowledge about South Africa as a destination, amongst the frontline staff of travel agencies. With an aim to train 1600 Indian trade partners, Learn South Africa VI was to cover the cities which included Goa, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Trichy, Bangalore, Cochin and Nagpur.
This year South Africa Tourism has offered a lucky draw for participants. One lucky travel agent from each city will get a chance to win an all expense paid trip to South Africa.
Commenting on the upcoming module of Learn South Africa, Country Manager, of South African Tourism Hanneli Slabber said, “Based on our research, we noticed that behaviour of Indian traveler is changing, they look for more experience based and memorable holidays than simple itineraries. Keeping in mind the recent change, South African Tourism is investing a lot of time in educating the trade partners on how they can maximize from the offerings available. We have received encouraging response for Learn SA each year which shows that it is a perfect platform to enhance trade partners’ knowledge on South Africa.”
The participating suppliers for this year are –
1) Abercrombie and Kent
2) Tsogo Sun
3) Extraordinary
4) Private Safari
5) Emirates
6) TravCare
7) Accor Hotels
8) South African Airways
9) SST
Learn SA V in 2014 included training sessions and on ground education in South Africa.
The South Africa VI Schedule was as under
S no City Date
1 Goa 13-July
2 Ahmedabad 14-July
3 Jaipur 16-July
4 Delhi 17 July & 21 July
5 Jallandhar 20-July
6 Lucknow 22-July
7 Kolkata 23-July
8 Mumbai 24 July & 03 Aug
9 Pune 25-July
10 Hyderabad 27-July
11 Chennai 28 July & 30 July
12 Trichy 29-July
13 Bangalore 31-July
14 Cochin 01-August
15 Nagpur 04-August
While addressing the media personnel in a press meet, the Secretary General of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Harmandeep Singh Anand said that the Association is dedicated for the growth and betterment of the Travel Agents.
Executive body member of TAAI Madhuri Deo too said that TAAI is a complete one stop in tourism. She claimed that these Travel Agents are not just Service Providers but Ambassadors. She claimed that TAAI trains counter staff on various tourist destinations and business interests of a location.
Country Manager, of South African Tourism Hanneli Slabber while addressing the media personnel said that on an average around 400 visitors from Vidarbha region visit South Africa for tourism which makes it around 5000 visits a year. She claimed that they have the figures from 2009 to 2013 which is around one lakh 27 thousand (1,27,000) visitors. She added that there is a phenomenal growth in the tourism from India. This huge growth is also because of the education workshops and training sessions organized in various places. It was decided by South Africa Tourism Board to reach out to tier 2 cities.
This year the Board also initiated a programme of Destination Familiarization tours or some travel agents so that they can be able to convince the tourists to try South Africa for tour.
She claimed that there are 25 National Wildlife Parks apart from the Private Wildlife parks. One can view first hand and in close quarters the wild life of flora and fauna.
Hanneli Slabber also claimed that after a lot of research, they have convinced the restaurants and hotels to include Jain Vegetarian food. It is really a unique experience. While answering to a query Hanneli Slabber claimed that the maximum number of visitors is for Cape Town and Garden Route. She added that South Africa is safe for tourism. She claimed that plastic money or Indian Credit Cards holds good in South Africa. You can even pay Taxi fare with debit or credit cards.
In fact the Tourist Minister of South Africa has given a special exemption for all transactions made through Indian Debit Card. Except for the exchange rate, no other fees is levied on the card. The currency conversion as of date is Rs 5.25 ps are equal to one Rand.
