South African Tourism, anxious to promote the destination as more than a football venue in anticipation of the World Cup in June, entered into what it describes as "a six-figure" advertising deal with TripAdvisor on its English-language websites, the national tourism agency says.
The "South Africa: The Ultimate Experience" campaign combines TripAdvisor user reviews for places like Cango Wildlife Ranch with promotional videos, photos, forums and text ads from companies like Expedia.com, hotels.com and Booking.com.
South Africa Tourism says the campaign is targeting travelers from the U.K., U.S., Australia, France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. There are three tabs -- Adventure and Wildlife, Culture and Nature, and Entertainment and Leisure -- in the banner ad and each tab features user-generated content about the top-rated attractions in each category, the DMO says.
With co-branded banner ads throughout TripAdvisor's English-language websites, the campaign drives trip-planning consumers to the South Africa Tourism website as well as to booking sites.
As part of the deal, the South Africa Tourism website has a TripAdvisor review widget on the DMO's accommodation pages, and this drives traffic back to TripAdvisor. Here is what the widget, which has an ad on top touting a contest to win a trip to the World Cup, looks like:
South Africa tourism says the deal with TripAdvisor meshes well with its global marketing strategy because it recognizes the value of user-generated content and the online environment for trip-planning.