• The Ministry of Tourism has signed a new deal with Google to leverage the search giant’s digital marketing capabilities.
• This is all in line to reach more people in the international community and potentially attract more tourism to SA.
• Last month SA Tourism saw a number of agreements reached with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for mutually beneficial tourism.

South Africa’s Ministry of Tourism is set to sign a new partnership with internet search giant Google on Monday.

The deal will reportedly see SA Tourism collaborate with Google in a number of ways, including enhancing its digital marketing strategies. The end goal is to increase international arrivals in South Africa by engaging and convincing potential tourists to visit the country, adding to the domestic GDP.

Google is among the world’s largest advertisers, and in 2022 it made most of its revenue on ads – around $162 billion. The deal will add SA Tourism to its long list of ad partners.

Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille is set to sign the agreement with Dr Alistair Mokoena, Google South Africa’s country director on Monday. There is no indication of how much SA Tourism will be paying Google as part of the marketing deal.

“The primary goal of the partnership is to harness Google’s technological expertise to support the Ministry of Tourism’s efforts in promoting South Africa as a prime tourist destination. The partnership aims to facilitate knowledge sharing, skills development, and the use of digital tools to enhance tourism experiences and sustainability,” SA Tourism said in a statement.

Aside from marketing South Africa’s culture and heritage sites to an international audience, Google will also help SA Tourism with digital skills training and thought leadership.

“By tapping into Google’s technology through digital skills training and the sharing of insights, South Africa’s industry, notably SMMEs, can present their offerings in innovative ways, engaging potential tourists and inspiring them to explore the country,” the ministry added.

Another recent foray by De Lille and SA Tourism was to make a series of agreements with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to grant SA citizens Saudi eVisas, and could potentially lead to direct flights from SA to the Middle-Eastern nation in the near future.

De Lille’s department also came under increased public scrutiny when it was reported that comedian Trevor Noah would be paid R33 million for a video advertising South Africa to the international market.

De Lille’s department has denied involvement with the video, and instead insists that the Tourism Business Council of SA (TBCSA) paid for the ad, which is a coalition of private companies.

[Source – SA News]

[Image – BY-ND 2.0 GovernmentZA on Flickr]