South African Tourism are appointing Neil Carney as Marketing and Communications Manager for the UK. A tourism marketing and PR professional with over 10 years’ international experience in destination and product marketing and promotion, Neil will be responsible for leading and developing the day-to-day communications and marketing programme for this key market.

In line with South African Tourism’s objective of increasing the understanding of both consumers and the trade of what South Africa has to offer, Neil will play a crucial role in developing South African Tourism’s visibility in the UK, and growing South Africa’s profile even further as an exciting destination for UK travellers.

Lebohang Mokhesi, UK Country Manager for South African Tourism commented: “We are delighted to welcome Neil to our UK team. 2007 has been an extremely busy and productive year for us here in the UK and Neil joins us as we announce a further increase in UK arrivals to South Africa. We are confident that his knowledge and understanding of the tourism industry will complement the team’s current expertise as we explore new and innovative ways of communicating the wonders of South Africa to both consumers and the trade.”

Prior to joining South African Tourism, Neil undertook various international marketing and communications roles overseas. Most recently, he worked with the Government of Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, the Namibia Tourism Board and the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority in Johannesburg, were he was heavily involved in destination promotion and was key in identifying market segments and implementing appropriate strategies.

Neil Carney added: “I am thrilled to be joining the UK South African Tourism team and thoroughly look forward to this new challenge in my career. I come with personal experience of the friendly, captivating and diverse aspects that South Africa offers visitors, and am excited to be able to integrate these attributes into future promotional activities. Starting in the role at the end of the year like this is perfect, because top of my list now is planning for 2008 where I will be identifying ways of building on the success of marketing events and relationships developed with key media during the year gone by.”

During his career, Neil has also worked as Marketing Manager for VisitBritain in both Los Angeles and Johannesburg, and as Market and Trade Relations Executive at their Head Office in London.
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