South African Tourism joins hands with Netflix to attract tourists

Published on : Thursday, April 1, 2021

South African Tourism (SA Tourism) have joined hands with Netflix in order to explore joint opportunities that will benefit both organisations to showcase stories made in South Africa and watched by the world. The agreement will allow exploration and collaboration on projects both in South Africa and in key source markets that drive international arrivals to the country. Netflix stories will provide a global platform to showcase South Africa to the world through content made in South Africa that will be watched by the global audience.

To date, the streaming service has released a diverse slate of content from South Africa across different genres including; Netflix original series like Queen Sono, Blood & Water, How To Ruin Christmas: The Wedding, Kings of Joburg; films like Seriously Single, Catching Feelings, Santana, Baby Mamas, Keeping up with the Kandasamys and most recently; the Oscar-nominated nature documentary My Octopus Teacher and Netflix’s first original stand-up show, Loyiso Gola’s Unlearning (which premiered this week on 23 March).

Netflix has also brought stories from other parts of the world that were filmed in South Africa, like the films Holiday in the Wild and Last Days of American Crime as well as global Netflix series, Sacred Games, The Crown, Black Mirror and Kissing Booth (1 & 2). The partnership will also see SA Tourism working closely with Netflix in promoting the country’s must-visit sights through its locally-produced series into international markets. Sisa Ntshona, CEO, SA Tourism said in a statement that as authorities continue to lure the world to the beautiful country in these trying times, they have to look at non-traditional tourism partnerships as a source of driving arrivals.

Ntshona also mentioned that Netflix reaches millions of eyeballs globally, and by working closely with Netflix, people are able to latch onto a massive opportunity to influence the audience to think more closely about South Africa and thus convincing them to visit our country. Ben Amadasun, Director of Content in Africa, Netflix added that the past year, when entertainment mattered more than ever, 204 million members around the world connected with new worlds, and most importantly with each other, through stories from South Africa and across the globe.