Mr. Sadiq Dindar revealed details about growing tourism relations between South Africa and Turkey.
Mr. Sadiq Dindar has a background in aviation spanning over 20-years having worked for Emirates Airlines, Kenya Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways in his capacity as Sales and Marketing Manager based in South Africa. Sadiq joined South African Tourism in September 2011 as the Global Trade Relations Manager responsible for several markets within the South African Tourism portfolio. This included South East Asia and the Middle East. Effective from September 2017, Sadiq has been appointed as the Manager: Marketing and Promotions the Middle East and Turkey with the primary responsibility of increasing the arrivals and spend from these markets.
Which countries are you responsible for? How important is the Turkish market among other countries?
I’m responsible for the Middle East. Turkey is an important market for South African Tourism since the Turkish market is new within the South African Tourism portfolio of countries and the arrivals are on a steady growth though we need to get more of the travel trade partners in Turkey to sell and market South Africa. Our strategy is to educate the travel trade in Turkey on the variety of experiences that travelers can enjoy in South Africa.
How many Turkish tourists visit South Africa? Can you give us some statistics regarding their purpose of travel?
According to our latest arrivals stats (Jan – November 2017) we have received 13 265 arrivals 11.8% down from 2016. We realize that there is a lot more work to be done in Turkey to increase our arrivals.
What are your 2018 campaigns for travelers in Turkey?
Annually, South African Tourism goes into Busines Planning sessions in March and our key objective will remain on training the travel trade in Turkey. We also plan to host a roadshow wherein we will bring South African travel trade partners to meet with the Turkish travel trade and we believe that this partnership will get the Turkish travel trade to increase the offerings to Turkish consumers. Plans would also include hosting trade from Turkey at the Indaba Travel Show in Durban and do familiarization trips so that the trade can experience South Africa first-hand in order to equip the trade to better package their offerings.
Do you know how many South Africans travel to Turkey?
In 2016, 29 316 South Africans traveled to Turkey. For 2017, 34 487 South Africans traveled to Turkey, registering a 17.64% increase of South African travelers to Turkey.
As a tourism director, where do you have your vacation? What do you like to do on your vacations?
I enjoy traveling within South Africa however from an international destination perspective, I really enjoyed traveling to Turkey as I am a keen golfer; I really enjoyed golfing in Antalya. I also enjoy traveling with my family and thus prefer beach resorts with activities for to cater for the kids.
Where have you been in Turkey? Do you like Turkish cuisine? Can you tell us your favorite meals, desserts, drinks etc. ?
I have visited Antalya and enjoyed the Turkish Kebab.
