AROUND 200 agents will be taken on fam trips to South Africa before next March following the appointment of a new trade manager.
South African Tourism UK country manager Lebo Mokhesi said the trips will be funded by the £1 million set aside for trade marketing this year.
The move will be backed by a week-long roadshow in the run-up to November’s World Travel Market. The roadshow is expected to attract at least 50 agents a day.
The entire programme will be overseen by Matthew Armstrong, who previously worked for Travel 2 and Travelbag.
He will be required to build new relationships with smaller operators and agents. Mokhesi said: “We need to reach out to them as opposed to just focusing on the big companies.
“The fam trips’ itineraries will be organised by South African Tourism and will focus on areas we feel are under-visited. We want to spread the tourist spend across the country.”
* Pictured enjoying a fam trip this week are, from left, Amber Mercer, Travelmood; Thomas Norman, Trailfinders; and Angie Fuller, Ebookers
See more tourism news from Travel Weekly