How BookTok could boost South Africa’s literary tourism - IOL
Recently, a German friend of ours sent us a photo of a book he gifted his niece with the caption “Getting my niece hooked on Cape crime”. The book? Deon Meyer’s The Dark Flood. His niece, in Munich, could already picture Church Street’s cafes, the vineyard estates of the Jonkershoek valley, and the police bullpen where the demoted Benny Griessel is exiled, before she had ever set foot in South Africa. That is the power of BookTok: a hashtag turning a small university town into a destination in a teenager’s imagination.
Every month, millions of young travellers pack their bags because of a paperback novel. On TikTok, the #BookTok hashtag has passed 370 billion views and Nielsen BookData found that one in four book buyers used TikTok in 2022, with purchases linked to nearly 90 million book sales that year.
That appetite is already reshaping travel. Skyscanner reports that more than half of travellers have booked, or would consider booking, a trip inspired by a book they’ve read. Across Europe, tour operators are responding in kind: Avalon Waterways’ Storyteller Series has run river cruises hosted by novelists such as Diana Gabaldon and Gillian Flynn, alongside moody walking tours through the historic academic cities behind the “Dark Academia” aesthetic.
As South Africa celebrates Tourism Month, this global trend presents a fresh, highly lucrative avenue for sustainable growth. Our traditional marketing campaigns already showcase our world-class safari experiences, award-winning vineyards, and breathtaking coastal beauty to great success. Building on that foundation, a substantial and largely untapped opportunity awaits us in a new generation of digital consumers.
Historically, literary tourism has focused primarily on monument preservation, appealing mostly to niche academic audiences. Today, Millennials and Gen Z, the fastest-growing and most digitally influenced generation of new travellers, are looking for fully immersive, narrative-driven experiences in the atmospheric mystery of a crime thriller, the tranquil romance of a forest getaway, or the intellectual, historic aesthetic of “Dark Academia.”
Fortunately, we do not need to build entirely new infrastructure to capture this eager market. South Africa’s dramatic and diverse geography is inherently evocative and deeply tied to globally successful literature. By framing our existing destinations through an intentional literary lens, we can invite international visitors to step directly into the pages of their favourite stories.
Stellenbosch University is beautifully positioned with its oak-lined avenues, Cape Dutch and neo-gothic architecture, and atmospheric campus spaces. The university can anchor curated literary weekends that include immersive evening tours of underground archives, candlelight poetry readings, and winter writing workshops. Together, the two campuses could anchor a genuinely national Dark Academia circuit rather than a single regional stop.
To fully realise this potential and convert digital views into actual foot traffic, our provincial tourism bodies can collaborate with academic institutions, independent booksellers, and digital creators, bringing rights holders into that conversation from the outset. Richmond, officially recognised as South Africa’s Book Town by the International Organisation of Booktowns, in the Great Karoo, can be elevated as a premier national destination for slow travel, creative retreats, and digital nomads looking to escape the hustle of city life.
Tourism Month celebrates the resilience, diversity, and brilliance of our local hospitality sector. By expanding our reach into BookTok tourism, we can make our travel economy future-fit and share our unique, diverse heritage with a broader global audience. We already possess the world-class landscapes and the remarkable stories; by designing these tailored literary itineraries, we can ensure South Africa remains at the forefront of global travel innovation.
