Ms tourist is a creative Advertising, Marketing, PR and a Brand management company that helps builds brand through creative content creation as well as helping with the overall brand & marketing strategy.
Siphelele wanted to share her experiences as she travels and explores Africa as well as to showcase the beautiful gems that many may not know about.
“I want to highlight what South Africa has to offer and to also deal with perceptions that some may have about the different attractions”.
Sadly for her, Siphelele was quarantined at home to ensure safety. “My day was all about being indoors, walking and researching. I would only go out to get essentials and indeed I missed my routine of travelling the country”.
COVID-19 has affected Siphelele financially as her source of income was based on travel and tourism. From March there has been no income at all as her travel plans were halted with immediate effect.
She thinks that the industry will have to adapt in terms of adhering to all hygiene protocol and ensuring the tourists are safe.
“The pricing strategy will also have to be revisited as the market for international incoming tourist may take time to enjoy the growth it has previously. For years the locals have been sidelined due to the fact that luxury travel only favoured the dollar market which deemed it unaffordable”.
The fact is digital has become a great platform to engage, as a result, there is an expected massive growth in digital nomads as most people are now online. Siphelele believes the good thing about it as well as is the instant results as most become conversions, people are likely to believe the word of mouth even though it's informal it still remains credible as opposed to adverts which are one way.
“With Nomads there is constant interaction and trust that is established”.
Sadly South Africa in the past years has become a target for poachers making them become vulnerable as a country.
“Year on year we are losing our white Rhino due to illegal poaching that takes place in our Parks nationally. The syndicate is quite aggressive and this has left us in a state of fear and that one day we will have only have a Big 3 instead of a Big 5. I must also state that as challenging as it has been, we have managed to tighten our security and impose heavy sentences to all those found guilty. The country has also ensured that our Rhinos and Elephants are protected by implementing strategies that mitigate poaching and that the animals do not go towards extinction”.
Ms Tourist comes from an Eco-tourism background where she learned about the importance of conservation and learning that we can co-exist.
“The other important fact is that without nature there is no eco-tourism”.
Advice to others would be to be authentic and engage with everyone who interacts with you. “Every tweet is important!”
So far Siphelele has been to London, Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Lagos and of course Limpopo in South Africa.
“I would recommend Limpopo for its authentic experiences like diverse culture, rich history and heritage as well as adventure and also Lagos for gastronomy and its 5-star nightlife”.
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