South African comedian and global entertainment star Trevor Noah is helping to promote his home country to international travellers through a new tourism campaign backed by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA).
According to moneyweb.co.za, the campaign seeks to highlight the country’s diverse attractions and encourage more visitors to experience South Africa for themselves.
The campaign has Noah exclaiming “Don’t say we didn’t tell you” as he punts the country in a tongue-in-cheek way.
He drops the names of other famous South African-born people on the world stage in the new ad, including Black Coffee, Charlize Theron and even Elon (minus the ‘Musk’) in a clear attempt by the campaign’s creatives to make it go viral.
This is the next phase in the private-sector-driven tourism campaign involving Noah and was launched at Radisson RED Rosebank, Johannesburg, on Wednesday night at an event attended by leaders in the SA tourism industry (but not by Noah himself).
It follows on from his first ad for the TBCSA back in 2023.
That first commercial coincidently won global recognition, coming in third place for ‘Best Country Promotion Film’ at the 2024 World Tourism Film Awards. It has had over 1.3 million views on YouTube, more than 500 million impressions and over 600 million engagements since its 2023 launch.
“Both ads are targeted at the international tourism market and aimed at boosting foreign tourist arrivals to the country,” TBCSA CEO Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa tells Moneyweb.
“SA’s tourism industry is targeting receiving more than 15 million international tourists annually by 2030.
“The campaign is funded by the private sector in tourism through the Tourism Marketing South Africa levy that hotels and other establishment charge when tourist book into their establishments,” he adds.
“It is totally private-sector driven, but we have collaborated on this with various stakeholders including SA Tourism, the National Department of Tourism, the Southern African Tourism Services Association [Satsa] and even broader big business organisations like Business for South Africa [B4SA].”
Tshivhengwa also tells Moneyweb that the campaign comes amid the tourism sector being taken more seriously by President Cyril Ramaphosa, government and big business as a key sector to drive job creation and boost the economy due to its ripple effect on other industries.
He says the likes of B4SA’s Martin Kingston and Discovery CEO Adrian Gore are backers of the TBCSA’s efforts and are part of the private sector’s collaboration with government to drive up SA’s economic growth towards the targeted 3%. “This means they recognise the potential of the tourism sector and are also talking to government about what needs to be done in tourism to really unlock growth.”
The first phase of the campaign reportedly cost the TBCSA around R33 million in 2023, and drew criticism at the time amid confusion by some parliamentary officials that it was public money being used via the state-run SA Tourism.
Tshivhengwa tells Moneyweb the latest instalment of the campaign with Noah has an overall cost of around R60 million, but that most of the money will be spent on its roll-out over the next year.
“Noah is a globally recognised comedian and is an ambassador of South Africa, so it was a natural choice to continue with this campaign.
“He was keen from the [outset] and actually charged us less than half of what he would normally charge to be part of an ad campaign… However, we may rope in other South African icons in future campaigns, but the first ad with Noah really delivered for us in terms of reach,” he adds.
‘Strategic investment’
TBCSA chair Jerry Mabena, speaking during the launch event, said the campaign represents far more than destination marketing.
“It is a strategic investment in growing tourism demand, supporting businesses and creating jobs. Tourism remains one of South Africa’s most important economic sectors, supporting just under one million jobs, with one in every 18 jobs in South Africa linked to the tourism sector,” he pointed out.
Mabena said destination marketing should be viewed as an investment in economic growth rather than advertising alone.
“When people think about tourism campaigns, they often think about beautiful scenery and memorable experiences. South Africa has all of that. But this campaign is about something much bigger.
“Every additional visitor supports businesses, creates jobs and contributes to economic growth. Growing demand for South Africa as a destination is an investment in our tourism economy and in the livelihoods of the people who depend on it.”
