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11 March, 2024

South African Tourism’s inaugural Mega Lekker Escape a raging sucess

Edited by Travel Weekly

South African Tourism’s inaugural Mega Lekker Escape has treated 90 Australian and New Zealand travel agents, consumer and trade media with incredible familiarisation trips and a two-day training event and the Sun City Resort.

The 90 guests were split into teams, designated a team name, emblazoned on T-shirts, and equipped with a mission – to capture their South Africa journey most creatively and share with the other groups at the training event as a way to supplement each participant’s first-hand experience with broader product knowledge. And most importantly, for their chance to win some amazing prizes.

Each of the groups focused on a different region of South Africa to drive geographic spread and included not only the main tourist attractions, but also the country’s hidden gems – the small, medium and micro business enterprises (SMMEs) and community and conservation experiences.

The lucky winners of this mission were the Rhinos, led by Adventure Destinations, whose video focused on the opportunity to give back through tourism.

The rhinos team. (Supplied)

Their highlights were taking part in rhino notching, a conservation initiative to protect the species, and a tuk-tuk tour through Soweto where they discovered their driver himself participated in the Soweto student uprising of 1976. Their winning video was presented, along with all the other very worthy entrants, at the training event’s presentation evening hosted by the undisputed Queen of Zulu Comedy, Celeste Ntuli.

The two-day training event, comprising 130 delegates with the addition of South African property operators, also included a trivia night, hosted by stand-up comedian Bongani Dube, and set in a Boma – a traditional African outdoor gathering place – which was lit up with lanterns and laughter.

South African Tourism CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe, said, “In the past we’ve run mega fam trips in South Africa and training roadshows across Australia and New Zealand separately, however there were so many changes to the travel industry in the wake of Covid, with as many as 30 oer cent of travel agents new to the industry, we understood it would take a mega undertaking such as this to address knowledge gaps.”

“In fact, only two of the travel agents taking part in the Mega Lekker Escape had been to South Africa before, and we know the best way for anyone to truly appreciate how exceptional South Africa is, is to experience it.

“Through this initiative, we sought to equip travel agents with the first-hand experience of the destination that is so critical to building the confidence to sell it, while also hosting media to drive consumer demand for the products the trade had experience.”

The Mega Lekker Escape’s name was borne from South African slang meaning very nice or enjoyable.

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