The campaign started with initial travel through the Garden Route to get to Knysna, which comprises tourism-dependent businesses that have been badly impacted in the past few months due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

"As Knysna has been the home of the Pink Loerie™ Mardi Gras and Arts Festival for the past 20 years, we started the campaign with local travel to the town to demonstrate our support and solidarity with the businesses in the greater Garden Route area," says the team behind the campaign.

The Pink Loerie™ Mardi Gras and Arts Festival aims to be a time of celebration to raise much-needed funds for local charities. 

"During the months of September to December, as part of the annual festival, we are running a tourism campaign called 'Tickle Me Pink for Tourism — Eat, Drink, Sleep, Love and Laugh'. We invite and encourage everyone to get 'Tickled Pink Too'," says the team.

"Our common aim is to bring visitors to all the tourist destination so that they have a great time so much so that they'll come back again and again. While we may now travel freely within South Africa, this initiative aims to remind people that even though they may not have the means to travel now, they can still book accommodation for the months of September to December, and beyond, for their next holiday with the participating establishments," adds the team.

"After the initial road trip to highlight interesting places to stay and see along the route to Knysna, we discussed it with other business partners in the industry. It was suggested that we expand the initiative to other regions in the country to assist those businesses also as part of the local tourism industry," the team adds. 

"[We aim to] remind people that they can travel and stay at local establishments at affordable prices with plenty of recreational, sightseeing and tourist options available to make the travel to and from and the stay at the final destination well worth the travel," says the team. 

"We will publish all our accommodation partners on our website, with direct links to their websites, so that people can book accommodation directly with the establishments, with ease, from the comfort of their armchairs," the team adds.

"Tourist attractions will also be listed as information for visitors with a direct link to your website or social media platform. Remember, when people visit the destinations, they will spend money in local restaurants, businesses and tourist attractions — thus assisting all these businesses," concludes the team. 

The festival is set to take place between Friday, 23 April and Tuesday, 27 April 2021.

 

For more information, visit www.pinkloerie.co.za or contact [email protected] or [email protected].