Marlize Terblanche-Smit, Professor of Marketing at Stellenbosch Business School, writes that South Africa has a tourism story the world should want to hear. From safari and wine estates to urban culture, adventure, food and heritage, few destinations can offer such variety within a single country.

The challenge is not necessarily creating destination appeal. It is turning that appeal into sustained tourism growth and ensuring that the story being sold is matched by the experience on the ground.

South Africa welcomed more than 10 million international tourists in 2025, signalling a strong recovery for the sector. Yet the pattern of that growth tells a more complicated story. The majority of visitors came from neighbouring SADC countries, while long-haul markets remain a much smaller proportion of arrivals.

Destination marketing is ultimately about more than getting people to notice a country. It is about influencing where they choose to spend their time and money and giving them sufficient reason to choose one destination over another. A distinct competitive advantage is therefore essential. South Africa has obvious assets with its people, natural beauty, cultural heritage, wildlife and established tourism infrastructure. But these assets need to be translated into a distinctive and emotionally compelling brand proposition.

South African Tourism has recognised this shift. Its current global campaign, South Africa Awaits. Come Find Your Joy!, moves beyond simply informing potential visitors about what the country offers and seeks to create an emotional connection with the destination. That is an important evolution in destination marketing. Travellers are not only buying accommodation, flights or experiences; they are buying anticipation, discovery and a sense of what a destination might make them feel. South Africa has an abundance of stories capable of doing exactly that.

But a destination brand is only as strong as the reality behind it. South Africa’s greatest tourism opportunity lies in the breadth of its offer. A visitor can combine a safari with Cape wine, food, art, history and adventure. Johannesburg can offer a very different experience from a game reserve, while coastal and rural destinations provide yet another perspective on the country. The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to attract more visitors to South Africa, but to encourage visitors to experience more of South Africa.

That requires marketing to work alongside access. Visa requirements, flight connectivity, infrastructure and perceptions around safety all influence whether a traveller moves from inspiration to booking. A campaign can create desire, but it cannot remove the practical barriers that stand between a potential visitor and an actual trip. This is particularly important as South Africa looks towards less traditional international markets. Growth from countries such as China and India has not been uniform, while other emerging markets have shown stronger momentum. Reaching these audiences will require more than simply translating existing campaigns. It requires understanding what motivates different travellers, what prevents them from booking, and how the South African proposition fits into their increasingly competitive choice set.

The same principle applies to domestic tourism. International arrivals may attract the headlines, but a resilient tourism sector also needs a strong domestic market. When household budgets are under pressure, South Africans naturally become more price-sensitive and may favour shorter trips, regional destinations and more affordable accommodation. This shift also creates an opportunity. Domestic travellers do not necessarily need to be persuaded that South Africa is beautiful; they need reasons to explore it. Tourism Month, together with initiatives such as Sho’t Left Travel Week, can play a role in turning that familiarity into action by making travel more accessible and reminding South Africans of the experiences available within their own country.

The question is how effectively tourism marketing can convert that interest into sustainable spending across the wider tourism economy. Encouraging people to travel is only part of the equation. The benefits need to reach accommodation providers, restaurants, guides, activity operators, artisans and communities beyond the traditional tourism centres.

This becomes particularly relevant as technology changes the way travellers discover destinations. The theme of South Africa’s 2026 Tourism Month ‘Growing South Africa’s Tourism Sector in the Digital Era’ reflects a significant change in the tourism landscape. Artificial intelligence, social media and digital platforms are increasingly influencing how travellers search for destinations, construct itineraries, compare experiences and make decisions. For smaller tourism businesses, this could be transformative.

A lodge, tour operator or local experience provider no longer necessarily needs the marketing budget of a large international company to reach potential visitors. A compelling social media presence, strong online reviews or inclusion in an AI-generated travel recommendation can potentially put a small business in front of an international audience.

But digital access is not automatically equal access. The ability to benefit from these technologies depends on connectivity, skills, resources and confidence. There is a risk that the digital revolution could create a new divide between tourism businesses that are equipped to compete in an increasingly digital marketplace and those that are not. If technology is to democratise tourism marketing, digital capability needs to be treated as part of tourism development rather than simply a communications tool.

There is another, deeper question South Africa’s destination brand needs to confront: who benefits from the tourism story we are telling? Tourism is frequently positioned as a vehicle for addressing unemployment, poverty and inequality, while sustainability has become an increasingly important part of South Africa’s tourism proposition. The benefits of tourism are not necessarily distributed evenly. Research has highlighted the concentration of tourism activity and ownership in particular areas and among particular groups, while communities living alongside major wildlife attractions can receive limited direct economic benefit.

At the same time, the natural assets that underpin much of South Africa’s tourism appeal face growing pressure. Biodiversity loss and water scarcity are not abstract environmental concerns when the country’s landscapes, wildlife and natural resources are central to what attracts visitors in the first place. This creates both a challenge and an opportunity for destination marketing. As travellers increasingly seek nature-based experiences, wellness, slower travel and more meaningful connections with places and people, sustainability can become a genuine competitive differentiator for South Africa.

But it cannot simply be another message in a campaign. A destination that markets itself as sustainable while its communities see limited benefit or its natural resources are under increasing pressure risks creating a credibility gap. Sustainability needs to be experienced, not merely advertised. This is where destination marketing becomes much bigger than advertising. The strongest tourism brands are built when the promise and the experience reinforce one another. The story attracts attention; the experience confirms it. The visitor then becomes part of the marketing through word of mouth, reviews, social media and repeat travel.

South Africa has many of the ingredients needed to build such a brand. It has diversity, distinctive experiences, compelling stories and a tourism sector capable of delivering memorable experiences. What it needs is greater alignment between the story being told and the conditions that enable that story to flourish.

Growing international tourism, revitalising domestic travel, harnessing AI and digital platforms, improving access and ensuring that tourism creates broader economic and environmental value are not separate objectives. They are interconnected parts of the same challenge.

South Africa therefore needs to think beyond the success of individual tourism campaigns and consider the destination as a whole. Can the traveller who is inspired by an image of a South African landscape easily get here? Can they move around safely and efficiently? Can they discover experiences beyond the well-known attractions? Can smaller tourism businesses compete for their attention? And, perhaps most importantly, can the communities and environments that make these experiences possible share meaningfully in the value tourism creates?

These are ultimately questions of brand credibility. South Africa has plenty to sell. The more important question is whether the country can ensure that the experience of visiting, doing business and living alongside tourism is strong enough to deliver on the promise. Marketing can open the door. But it cannot walk tourists through the rest on its own.

JIGSAW
www.jigsawpr.co.za