This view is disrespectful to the many towns and entrepreneurs in our country that rely on tourism as an economic driver but do not feature on the well established international itineraries. I hear the point made about more income into the country but moving money around the country sustains many communities who deserve and need the local tourism spend.

Not sure where they spent R 1,4bn - maybe trips for government and SAT & SATSA officlals' holiday trips marked as marketing!

For the majority of tourism establishments the local market is their bread and butter. If you stop promoting the country to locals and they stop travelling, then the tourism infrastructure will totally collapse and there will be nothing for the international market. Anton Thompson's comment is a smack in the face of the industry who rely so badly on the local market to survive. I'm curious how much money is being spent with his consultancy and how much more money he wants to make

Dont understand why it needs to be one or the other. The pie should be split based on some agreed form of allocation.

Perhaps the money spent on the Meharg Trust's consultancy fees could be better spent on promoting domestic tourism?

Without Domestic tourism there will also be no overseas tourist! - the domestic tourist make sure that the facilities and attractions of SA are developed and maintained! - not even talking about conservation that will disappear if you have no domestic tourists! you need to promote and stimulate its growth !! We should be careful that we not only provide for High end tourist whose tourist money often don't even benefit the local people but all go to the overseas investor - look at Zimbabwe!

This statement is a bit irresponsible. As Shaun Van Eck says, many regions in the country depend on money moving in from the more affluent parts. Also; there is the issue of breeding a culture of travel so that South Africans become embassadors for their own country.Especially looking at previously disadvantaged communities who need to be educated on 'how to travel/be a tourist' in order for them to know South Africa, understand the economics of tourism, and hopefully start participating in and supporting the tourism economy. Many a SAT foreign correspondents have advised us that the people that give South Africa a bad name overseas are South Africans; dare I say that it is because they have not been exposed to enough domestic travel campaigns directed at them? When I read the title of this article I thought it would be about how we should start communicating differently to the domestic market, and by differently, I mean, with respect and consideration. Most certainly not less.

Domestic tourism is vital to: build a tourism culture; offset the challenges of seasonality; and to 'spread the geographic benefits". In the majority of healthy tourism-driven economies domestic tourism contributes up to 50% of the tourism turnover. The questions that needs to be asked are rather : HOW we are choosing to drive/promote the growth of our domestic tourism markets (has Sh't Left achieved anything of substance?) ;and, what products do we have to attract a broader bas d domestic market. Almost 20 years ago the concept of Butlins-type (all activities included) holiday resorts was recommended to Government coinciding with the sale of Aventura but it fell on deaf ears. It's not to late to still get it right because we need a vibrant domestic tourism market despite what Mr. Thompson believes. -

Mr Thompson is a very respected private industry player who has earned his dues. However it is hard to understand how he comes to his conclusion that we should not market local domestic tourism. In SA many or most tourism product offerings rely heavily on domestic tourism for their survival. For the large majority of us this is our bread and butter. The international tourist is our cream on the cake so to speak.
By promoting local travel we get SA travellers to travel in SA more (counter money export and still get business to local product)
Encourage locals to spend more on travel and less on other less important foods tot he human soul.
I a country with such a vast majority of citizens who have never had a culture of travel for leisure and even business, our biggest gold mine lays un-mined and it is the governments responsibility to awaken and inspire this market to travel far more to enjoy the joy of both business and even more so, leisure travel.
Alan Roxton Wiggill: Big Sky Ballooning

Anton, brilliant!!!!! A man with vision

Indeed i second most of the opinions below. Domestic tourism is a key driver to attracting international visitors to our shores and ensures that we are ready to host just about any international visitor to our beautiful country. A fact that should not be ignored is this......local tourists spend more money in South Africa on holidays than foreign visitors to our shores. So where should we be spending the marketing budget more? That is the question.....???