Recommend December 2013 - (Page 71)

tional tourists by the end of the year, and by 2023 it's forecasted to grow to 96 million visitors with $87.2 billion to Africa. Let's start in the north. Morocco is the perfect mix of Africa with a twist of Middle Eastern culture...and Americans are taking note. "Morocco has done very well in the U.S. market in 2013. For the first eight months, we are up 14 percent and are confident that we will continue double-digit growth for the remainder of the year," says Chakib Ghadouani, U.S. director for the Moroccan National Tourist Office (visitmorocco.com). "The result will be that for the first time we will exceed 200,000 American visitors to Morocco. This has been the result of an increasing number of new luxury and boutique-style hotels and focusing our marketing efforts more towards the travel trade and starting to educate them on the wide variety of experiences that are available in Morocco," he adds. According to Ghadouani, the top three cities for visitors, to date, in 2013 are Marrakech, Fes and Casablanca. Essaouira had a 38 percent increase in occupancy over the same period last year and is the fastest growing city in Morocco. Kristan Schiller put the best of Morocco's newest properties front-and-center in the October 2013 issue in her Moroccan Splendor piece. From the Palais Faraj (palaisfaraj.com) in Fes to the much-anticipated Selman Marrakech (selman-marrakech. com), a 56-suite hotel set on 15 acres with five private riads, a holistic spa, a French restaurant and 16 Arabian horses, there is an influx of luxury accommodations for your clients to choose from. But it's not only the new riad and hotel product opening in Morocco, but an "...interest in the Muslim world that continues to grow, especially for our family travelers. Morocco offers a warm, welcoming and safe introduction to the Muslim world," says Joel Zack, president of Heritage Tours Private Travel (htprivatetravel. com). "Keep an eye out for the Terres M'Barka, a Grace Hotel set to reopen next year." And to get a taste of Morocco and see how amazing this part of Africa can be, Lorri Robbins, editorial director and publisher for Recommend, shared her 10-day tour in a feature in the January 2013 issue, Authentic Morocco in An (Argan) Nutshell, with a breakdown of what to see and do minus the history lesson. In October, I personally had the pleasure to spend three weeks in the arid country of Namibia (for the first time) for the Adventure Travel Trade Association's annual summit. The tourism board is actively investing in both the marketing of the destination and support of new luxury hotel products like The Olive Exclusive (theolive-namibia.com) in Windhoek or the brand-new Pelican Point Hotel on the coast (officially reopened under new management in October 2013). During my time in Namibia, I visited the luxurious Little Kulala desert retreat (wilderness-safaris.com), located in the private 91,000-acre Kulala Wilderness Reserve and offering 11 climate-controlled, thatched kulalas (which translates "to sleep"). Says Chesak of Adventure Travel Trade Association, "I think most travelers are looking for something new in Africa. Maybe they've been to Kenya or South Africa, but want to dig a little deeper, or perhaps they just don't want to do what they consider a traditional African experience or are looking to add more destinations like Namibia." This past year, Air Namibia (airnamibia.aero) incorporated two brand-new Airbus A330-200 aircraft into its fleet and with that came major upgrades to the airline's long-haul inflight product. As you move south on the continent, new safari lodges and city hotels are opening at a rapid pace-including Sir Richard Branson's new hotel, Mahali Mzuri (mahalimzuri.virgin.com), in the Maasai Mara in Kenya (opened late-October). However, one can't miss the iconic opulence offered by luxury players in South Africa like the Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa (fairlawns-hotel.co.za) in Johannesburg and Tswalu (tswalu.com) in the Kalahari Desert. The ever-popular eco-chic trend is evident at properties like Grootbos Private Nature Reserve (grootbos.com/en/home) in the Western Cape of South Africa and the resort property White Pearl (whitepearlresorts.com) set on the sandy beaches of Mozambique- leading the way for other like-minded hotels to open in Africa. And we can't ignore the ever-growing multigenerational travel factor-yes, even to Africa. We sure didn't in the September 2013 issue, in which Kristan Schiller in the Far-Flung, Family-Friendly Destinations piece listed the best in family tours and family-friendly hotels throughout the Middle East and Africa, including South Africa. Families will love South African Airways Vacations' (flysaavacations.com) popular Sense of Southern Africa package ($4,799 pp), which includes a stay in Cape Town, a safari experience, and a visit to Victoria Falls. And in the November 2013 issue, Carla Hunt provided a list of national wonders your clients should behold when visiting Zimbabwe in the Zimbabwe: Southern Africa's Comeback Kid piece. It's a destination, said Rob Veden, Cox & Kings' (coxandkingsusa.com) director for Africa, in that same story, that "is full of its own unique experiences." Southern Africa, in fact, continues to dominate Sub-Saharan international in-bound growth for the continent. According to Keith Vincent, CEO of Wilderness Safaris (wilderness-safaris.com), "During the course of 2013, Wilderness Safaris saw a marked increase in sales and occupancies across all nine countries of operation, notably in Botswana and in the Republic of Congo. There is definitely a growing trend from travelers wanting to both experience authentic and extraordinary wilderness as well as give back." Sthu Zungu, president of South African Tourism North America (southafrica.net), concurs on Southern Africa's growth and highlights the contributing factors of South Africa's steady year-on-year growth in tourist arrivals. "As the second largest source market for South Africa, North America continues to fuel record-breaking arrivals (up 4.3 percent in arrivals to date) to our destination year after year. "Most recently, we unveiled a campaign called 'What's Your BIG 5?' to drive awareness of South Africa's spectrum of authentic experiences in NBC's hit show, 'All-Star Celebrity Apprentice.' High-profile media exposure coupled with aggressive trade marketing efforts is bringing South Africa closer to its goal of becoming a top 20 worldwide destination for 2020." Mark Cavaliere, executive v.p., North America & Alliances for South African Airways (flysaa.com) says, "We continue to see growth in the African market. From North America, travel to domestic points such as Cape Town and Johannesburg continues to increase, but we are also seeing a growing interest to destinations such as Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia and Botswana. Next year, based on demand, swe will introduce service to Skukuza Airport, adjacent to Kruger National Park." ● december 2013 71 http://mahalimzuri.virgin.com http://fairlawns-hotel.co.za http://www.visitmorocco.com http://www.tswalu.com http://www.grootbos.com/en/home http://www.whitepearlresorts.com http://www.palaisfaraj.com http://www.flysaavacations.com http://www.coxandkingsusa.com http://www.wilderness-safaris.com http://www.southafrica.net http://www.theolive-namibia.com http://www.wilderness-safaris.com http://www.flysaa.com http://www.airnamibia.aero

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend December 2013

Editor's Notes
Hotel Desk: Canyon Ranch
Tour Talk: Insight Vacations
17th Annual Recommend Readers' Choice Awards Winners
Cruising 2013
Discovering North America
Caribbean Trends
Anguilla Travel Agent Specialist Program
Asia & The South Pacific in the Rearview Mirror
Mexico 2013
Latin America in 2013 and Beyond
Africa + The Middle East Continue to Make Stides
Nostalgic for Europe

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