With the launch of new United Airlines service to South Africa from New York/New Jersey tomorrow (June 3), South Africa Tourism (SAT) is eager to use the opportunity to make sure the destination is on the radar of North Americans planning their next – or first – great post-pandemic adventure.

The opportunity for Canadians to visit the destination isn’t likely to come for some time (based on Canadian restrictions and South African vaccination rates that are currently amongst the lowest in the world), but Jerry Mpufane, North American president for SAT, assures that when they do, they will find a destination that will welcome their return with a wide array of “affordable luxury and exciting experiences” and that lives up to its nickname “the Rainbow Nation” – a term colourfully coined in 1994 by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and furthered by Nelson Mandela, to describe the country’s multi-cultural diversity and the advent of a peaceful new era after apartheid.

With the typical South African holiday is based around luxury game lodges and safari adventures tracking the “Big Five” – lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and cape buffalo – South Africa has a well-defined niche, Mpufane acknowledges, explaining that the country’s target traveller is someone who is “highly social and open-minded,” adding, “they are experimental and adventurous (and) bask in high-end hedonistic experiences shared with others.”

At the same time, Mpufane says South Africa, by its very nature, is well positioned to appeal to travellers’ post-pandemic desires – as expressed in various polls and research studies – to partake in nature and wellness experiences, as well as satisfying big ticket and bucket list desires.

As for Johannesburg – gateway to the country and new United Airlines destination – Mpufane says visitors will find a culturally vibrant city, filled with arts and food and “youthful energy.”

United’s flight new daily service between Newark and O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg compliments the carrier’s thrice-weekly seasonal Cape Town service. The 15-hour flight, aboard Boeing 787-9 aircraft, departs at 8:45 p.m. with easy connections to Star Alliance partner South African Airways available upon arrival.

Mpufane says the country is eager to emerge from the pandemic and welcome travellers again, when they are ready to travel. “We are,” he says, “really itching to go.”