SA’s ‘Big Brother’ attitude to Africans hurts tourism

Fresh from a brand-bruising wave of anti-illegal immigrant sentiment, South African Tourism is planning to launch a multimillion-rand charm offensive to woo visitors from West African economic powerhouses, Nigeria and Ghana, in a bid to shed South Africa’s “Big Brother” image on the continent.

To sell South Africa’s tourism story, the agency is on the hunt for a Nigeria-based marketing company with a presence in Ghana to launch a PR and media offensive and position the country as a welcoming destination for African nationals.

In a frank assessment, South African Tourism, which is playing a leading role in the country’s bid to welcome 15-million tourists by 2030, acknowledges South Africa is perceived as unwelcoming, intimidating and closed-off to African visitors.

“We’re Africa’s ‘Big Brother,’ rather than Africa’s friendly neighbour,” with perceived hostility towards African foreign nationals, South African Tourism notes. “Research findings show that there is insufficient real/authentic content available about South Africa and its leisure offering. We rank poorly on all key travel attributes, except for wildlife,” the agency said in its request for proposals.

“Nigerian travellers have asked for a better and more relaxed visa process. They perceive the current process to be very complex and find it difficult to get a South African visa. Ghana has a 90-day visa waiver with South Africa. Safety was the most important issue for travellers, as they had either faced or heard about various crime-related incidents in South Africa.”

The campaign is particularly targeting travellers from Nigeria’s big cities: Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, and Ghana’s economic hubs of Accra and Kumasi.

South Africa enjoys deep economic ties with the two countries, with several South African multinationals present in West Africa’s two largest economies.

Nigeria for example, is MTN’s largest market by miles, with more than 100-million subscribers, while major South African banks either have a physical presence or representative offices in the oil-rich country — and Africa’s most populous.

South Africa remains one of the largest foreign direct investors in Ghana, with companies like Absa, Standard Bank, Old Mutual, Vodacom, Gold Fields and First National Bank having a significant presence in the country, which has emerged as Africa’s largest gold producer.

Both Nigeria and Ghana have English as their official language, a big factor when travelling to South Africa.

South African Tourism has asked the service provider to focus on three distinct areas to drive the message of South Africa’s appeal: leisure, business events and distribution channels (tourism trade, media, influencers/celebrities and private companies).

Activities by March and March, a citizen-led movement in South Africa that organises anti-immigrant and immigration reform protests, triggered major diplomatic tensions and the mass evacuation of hundreds of Ghanaian citizens in 2026, with Nigeria also taking umbrage at the treatment of its citizens.

Beyond March and March, South Africa has witnessed a mushrooming of organisation such as Operation Dudula, which also targets foreign nationals, resorting to uncouth measures like stopping foreigners from going to some health clinics, with little pushback from the state.

These activities have added to the perception that South Africa, which is Africa’s largest and most industrialised economy, is hostile to foreign nationals, particularly those from the continent.

President Cyril Ramaphosa had to dispatch envoys to capitals around the continent this year to calm tensions, as March and March set a June deadline for all undocumented foreign nationals to leave South Africa.

The minister of international relations & co-operation, Ronald Lamola, met with Ghanaian leaders in Accra to reassure them over South Africa’s migration management and law enforcement.

Ghana’s political leadership has in particular been incensed by the posture taken by South Africans towards its citizens, with Pretoria in July fending off a bid by Ghana to place xenophobic violence in the country on the agenda for the AU’s mid-year co-ordination meeting.

Air arrivals in South Africa from several African markets decreased mid-year, as tourism businesses reported growing concern about the impact of xenophobia.

Arrivals from Ghana and Nigeria fell 17.8% and 30%, respectively, year on year in June. Travel from sister African countries is a key cog in South Africa’s tourism machinery.

South Africa’s international tourism sector recorded a strong recovery in 2025, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time since global travel disruptions, with the country welcoming 10.5-million tourists, representing a 17.7% increase from the 8.9-million tourists recorded in 2024.

About 75.2% of all tourists came from neighbouring Southern African Development Community (Sadc) countries, while tourists from other African countries contributed 1.9%.

Hospitality group Southern Sun this month said the heightened anti-illegal immigrant sentiment in South Africa in the first half of the year hurt travel from Sadc states.