GO SOUTH AFRICA – A COMPETITION THAT’S ONE IN A MILLION!
The Go South African competition aims to promote South African tourism by offering prizes, worth over a million rand. O&A spoke to Cheryl Lefevre, founder of The Sautner, an online selection of tour routes across anumber of provinces about her passion for showcasing South Africa’s diverse attractions and her involvement in this exciting initiative
There aren’t too many competitions that can roll out the red carpet for travellers to enjoy over R1-million worth of prizes, including holidays, activities, collectibles and art pieces – but there’s method in the so-called madness of a private sector entrepreneurs who believe not enough is going into putting South Africa on international tourism maps and encouraging tourists both inside and outside of South Africa to start enjoying the wild beauty at the tip of Africa.
O&A: Tell us about the background to the competition – how did it start?
It started almost five months ago with a conversation between two people.
The idea was: how do we make such a big splash about South Africa that people have to stop and look? The idea for the competition came up. It couldn’t just be any competition. It had to cover a lot of South Africa, to make people stop and listen, and inspire them to want to travel to these places, whether they live in South Africa or abroad.
The overall idea was to include beautiful holidays plus activities linked to specific areas. So, for example, if you’re in Knysna, one of the most popular activities is a sunset cruise with oysters around the bay. So, most of the big prizes include these activities.
O&A: What prizes are up for grabs?
They stretch from the Garden Route to the Eastern Cape, from the Drakensberg to Zululand. The top prize is Zululand – the new Babanango Lodge, plus we have Fugitives Drift Lodge, which encapsulates the whole history of the Zulu battlefields and the beautiful Tonga Beach in Maputaland.
About three weeks before launched the competition, one of our sculptors who has an open studio with us, phoned and asked why we hadn’t included art. He wanted to donate a piece. That explains why there is R250 000 worth of fantastic art and sculpture and craft. We couldn’t put every outstanding artist on there, but we’ve got a selection of some of the best.
You’ve got Ardmore. Because these are prizes that might go overseas, it’s not one of the ceramics but a beautiful tablecloth. Then, in terms of sculptors, we have Carl Roberts who is based in Hillcrest, Sarah Richards, Jaco de Beer from the Cape. We’ve got Bongi Bengu, who is one of South Africa’s top female artists from KZN as well as Carla Bosch. Her work is very special. On the wildlife side, we’ve got a graphite sketch from Warren Carey.
O&A: What sort of support have you had?
We did have a meeting and SA Tourism jumped at it, loved the idea, wanted to support it. Then they didn’t come to the second meeting and, when we followed up, we were told there were major changes within the organisation. So, we have been supported by private entities, the hotels, the guys who do canoeing, the chap who does safaris for meerkats. They’ve all just backed us as we all know that we need to make a big splash about South Africa.
Some of the big five stars were hard to get on board. They have so much tourism anyway, particularly in the Cape. But there were only a few where we didn’t achieve the collaboration that I was hoping for. In most cases – 99% of cases – there has been a fantastic response.
O&A: Which provinces are included?
We’ve chosen places we think are beautiful to holiday in. We haven’t included every province. We haven’t got anything in the Northern Cape, not because it’s not lovely, but we can’t include every area in South Africa because it is just so rich in travel opportunities. But we’ve given a good selection. We’ve got the Wild Coast, we’ve got the KZN Midlands, we’ve got Durban, the Garden Route, Cape Town and the Winelands, the Kruger Park and resorts in the Free State, so it’s quite extensive.
O&A: Why is it so important to boost tourism in South Africa?
I am passionate about this. A statistic that I heard not that long ago is that, for every 14 new international tourists who visit South Africa, one new job is created. That is very tangible. We can make a difference. Each cluster of new tourists that comes is helping this country’s economy. Tourism can’t do it alone, but it can go a big way towards improving things.
There’s a lot of money going into tourism, but if you look at Durban, for example, it’s a mess. Sometimes I look at posts which have been written on social media, and I think that’s not going to attract anybody to that venue. Sometimes, I write back and say, hold on, I don’t think you’re achieving anything with this post. They probably don’t like me doing that but, I want tourism to work.
I want KZN, in particular, to display itself. KZN is absolutely beautiful with a wonderful range of things to do. You can come to KZN and see a much more realistic view of the real South Africa than when going to Cape Town. Cape Town is different, its Mediterranean. It’s got a whole different feel, culture. You don’t get that KZN feel anywhere else in South Africa – and for people to miss out on world heritage sites like the Drakensberg and Isimangaliso is absolutely criminal, quite frankly.
It’s sad that tourists have been put off by what can only be described as a province shooting itself in the foot multiple times, if I could put it that way,
The truth is that you won’t find a cheaper holiday anywhere else in the world – and you won’t find a better one. You’ll find different holidays but, unfortunately, the exchange rate of the Rand versus the Dollar or the Pound or Euro, just can’t be beaten. When it comes to life changing holiday events, like going to a game lodge and seeing the big five or visiting one of our beach resorts, we’ll match anything out there in Thailand or Indonesia.
For the overseas traveller coming into South Africa, value for money for food is phenomenal. The same applies to accommodation. Although you may have to exclude some of the top hotels in the Cape where prices seem to be getting a bit steep, there is huge value to be had in KZN, for example. It’s chalk and cheese and the overseas market is cottoning on to this.
O&A: Do competition winners have to pay for their own travelling costs?
With this competition, winners do have to pay for their own flights and travel. For example, one of prizes is a self-catering chalet for four in the Midlands and it won’t cost people very much to get there. For most of our prizes, winners have to pay for the car to drive there, or the ticket to fly there. So, this is a competition, for the better healed, for those who have some budget.
You know, the middle class in South Africa has been so badly hit with price increases and the cost of living. So, this is also aimed at them, saying, win one of these prizes and you just have to get yourselves there. The big cost is taken care of. It’s a giveaway, it’s a celebration.
O&A: When did it start? When does it end?
It’s starting as we speak, and it runs through until the 26th of January. A couple of prizes will be drawn before then, just to get a bit of excitement going, but most of them will be drawn on January 26. Winners have a year to collect their prizes.
O&A: What sort of response have you had?
So far, over 10,000 people have registered. A lot are from outside South Africa. We have just started marketing overseas and we are surprised at the number of overseas entries. Now, this could be locals who are now
living overseas or, for example, part of the overseas following on the Saunter. We don’t know where all of them come from, but we have had a very pleasing start with the overseas market showing real interest.
O&A: Will this be an annual competition?
Not yet. It’s taken a long time, and this is a labour of love. No-one is paid and we have had to take time out from our normal work to do this. We know it eventually has got to be ongoing and, with a little bit injection of energy and some money, we’ll get out of the starting blocks. We not only need funding to continue but to ensure that any money will be used in wise ways to actually target the right markets.
We do need support from government tourism entities who have budgets but seem to not really be achieving anything. We all need to rethink what you’re doing. It is not enough.
O&A: Is the fall off in tourism due to Covid?
We can’t ignore the fact that tourism and travel sort of disappeared during Covid. People have been very slow in getting back. We were hit very badly. The closures were too extreme for too long and were exacerbated by the alcohol ban.
I think Cape Town has caught up. The rest of the country hasn’t – and, unfortunately, after that KZN had to contend with riots and then floods and just hasn’t recovered. The looting had a profoundly negative impact on people overseas. But, in time, when people see that things have settled down, backed by good, consistent advertising that shows just how special this place is, things will take their course and heal.
O&A: What prompted you to get involved?
The fact that tourism is low and that we can all make a difference and create jobs for people. If you have people working, it won’t stop things like looting, but it will certainly minimize it. There are so many very poor people in this country and a lot of them are people who want to work but can’t. It good to know that you could reverse that. This is something that I believe in, personally as well as professionally. The Sautner is part of the Gillitt Foundation and one arm of what we do is a feeding scheme. We want to help people, but we’d rather not be feeding them. We’d rather they were able to feed themselves – and so would they. Most people want to do something worthwhile – and tourism is worthwhile.
