China fits into Africa three times. The distance between West Africa and South Africa is equal to the distance between Hong Kong and Dubai.
This information was neatly packaged into infographics to educate Hong Kong tourists who are wary of travelling to South Africa because they fear catching the Ebola virus, which is currently ravaging several West African countries.
The problem is underlined in an article in The Hindu BusinessLine: “Frequent travellers are unlikely to cancel a visit to South Africa because they know what to expect. But a first-time visitor is likely to cancel the trip and consider travelling to an alternate destination.”
Flow Communications is responsible for South African Airways’ social media, and a joint venture between project manager Kat Fouche and designer Gaynore Adams to educate tourists to South Africa about Ebola is now being applied all over the world. The concept was simply to put into perspective the distance between South Africa and the countries affected by the Ebola virus: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
“When the Ebola crisis took over West Africa, we were struck with the problem of visitors cancelling their flights, particularly from Hong Kong. There was a perception that South Africa is part of West Africa,” says Kat.
“We had to come up with a creative solution to educate the communities [on social media platforms] about Ebola, and how far we are from West Africa. We posted on social media, in three languages (English, Cantonese and simplified Chinese).”
The China and Hong Kong markets were the first to be targeted by SAA. Next was Australia, and now “they are going to start to take the work Gaynore did and adapt it, starting with India”.
Says Gaynore: “Kat and I are delighted that our concept was so well received and that SAA is using the Flow concept around the world.”