The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) launched a social media campaign on 1 September 2026 to promote its national botanical and zoological gardens during Tourism Month. Under the #WeAreSANBI banner, the institute publishes a short video for each garden every weekday until 18 September, presented by the garden’s own manager, according to SANBI’s announcement.
What the campaign covers
SANBI manages 11 national botanical gardens and two national zoological gardens. The campaign opens with one consolidated video and then moves through individual gardens, among them Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, Hantam in Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape, the Karoo Desert garden in Worcester, Walter Sisulu, Lowveld and Free State.
Each video points to what a visitor can actually do there. Bizcommunity’s report on the launch lists Kirstenbosch’s indigenous flora and tree-canopy walkway, seasonal wildflowers at Hantam, succulents at the Karoo Desert garden, walking trails and the 70-metre Witpoortjie Falls at Walter Sisulu, river landscapes and birdlife at Lowveld, and water-wise planting and Iron Age history at the Free State garden. Across the gardens SANBI also lists hiking, birdwatching, guided walks, environmental education, plant sales, restaurants and family facilities, with annual memberships that give access to several gardens.
SANBI chief executive Shonisani Munzhedzi described Tourism Month as “an invitation for South Africans to rediscover the extraordinary places within their own country.”
Domestic travellers carry the market
SANBI cites Statistics South Africa figures showing that tourism generated R361.7 billion, or 4.9% of GDP, in 2024, and that domestic visitors accounted for 85% of internal tourism expenditure. That is the audience the campaign is aimed at.
The biodiversity part of that spending has been measured separately. In 2019, according to a piece in Bizcommunity on what drives domestic tourism, domestic and international visitors together spent more than R60.6 billion on biodiversity-based tourism, which directly supported 91 836 jobs. Domestic visitors accounted for R42.7 billion of that, or 70.4%. These are 2019 figures.
The same piece cites the Oxford Economics Global Tourism Key Themes 2026 report, which identifies value, authentic experiences, culture and nature as important influences on travel decisions in 2026. The author argues that value covers more than price: it includes access, service quality and the chance to learn something. Three points are made about building a tourism brand. It should rest on real local assets rather than invented ones, it should state costs and access clearly, and what visitors find on the ground should match what was promised.
The wider biodiversity economy
SANBI’s National Biodiversity Assessment puts the value of the sector in wider terms. According to SANBI’s summary of the assessment, biodiversity tourism brings in about R31 billion a year in direct spending, and about 418 000 jobs are related to biodiversity, roughly the same as mining’s 430 000 in 2017. The assessment adds that for every job involved in conserving biodiversity there are about five that depend on using it.
The R31 billion figure comes from the assessment, while the R60.6 billion figure is the later 2019 tourism-specific estimate, so the two are not the same measure and should not be added together.
Who SANBI is
SANBI was established on 1 September 2004 under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, and reports to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. It succeeded the National Botanical Institute, created in 1989, which ran Kirstenbosch and similar gardens. Its head office is at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden.
This is not the institute’s first attempt to draw visitors. In March 2026 it held National Gardens Week, giving South African citizens and residents free entry from 9 to 13 March to Kirstenbosch, Walter Sisulu, the Pretoria National Botanical Gardens and Pretoria Zoo, according to SANBI. The institute said more than 126 000 people visited its gardens during the inaugural event the year before.
Where small operators fit in
For guesthouses, guides and community tourism projects near a SANBI garden, the campaign puts the destination they sell around in front of domestic travellers. Operators looking at the wider market can follow our SME and entrepreneurship coverage, tourism-related spending trends in retail and consumer news, and policy changes affecting the sector in regulatory and policy news.
