The maiden voyage of Air Belgium left Brussels on Thursday night and touched down for the first time in ages on South African soil.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) of SA Tourism, Nomasonto Ndlovu, says this will be the beginning of a long relationship between South Africa and the European nation.

“As you know, Europe as a market has been a very important market for South Africa. Europe has bounced back very nicely after Covid, doing very well with their numbers growing significantly. In fact, their market is huge. So we have to ensure that there is proper airlift in order to cater for those numbers.

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“Now if you look at Brussels, where it is located and the kind of activity that is happening there, it is very close to – for example – the Netherlands, and the Netherlands is looking to connect to South Africa in a very affordable way. So now, with Air Belgium’s routes to South Africa, they have an additional option in terms of air access on the market, which means that prices will be more favourable for the consumer.”

You can now fly directly from Johannesburg/ Cape Town to Brussels. See the water salute at @ortambo_int for the inaugural Air Belgium flight from Brussels. ????????????. Video credit @martinslabber pic.twitter.com/fA2mrdmTR9

— Clayson Monyela (@ClaysonMonyela) September 15, 2022

Ndlovu explained that SA Tourism was doing a lot of marketing work in Northern Europe, with a focus on the Netherlands, and the new access to air life through Air Belgium would assist with attracting tourism into the country.

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“As an organisation coming out of Covid, we launched a new campaign which we called Live Again. The essence of that campaign is to ensure that we signal to the world that South Africa is open for business and the borders are open for them to come experience South Africa in a way they used to before Covid,” she said.

SA Tourism introduces the Lekker Local Tips map

Ndlovu explained that the organisation, in Northern Europe, has also introduced the Lekker Local Tips map – a guide on how to explore the destination like a local. The programme is user generated, where South Africans offer tips on what sort of activities locals would actually do. All these tips that were sourced have now been put into this ‘map’ which is now available in Northern Europe.

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Ndlovu said that the map programme was doing rather well, and as such Europeans were planning their trips to South African. She added that the addition of Air Belgium to South African soils will aid them in the planning of these trips.   

Air Belgium’s maiden voyage landed at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Friday morning and on Saturday, it is expected to touch down in Cape Town. This will be the start of seasonal flights from Belgium to South Africa, with three flights each week.

The Citizen