Nielsen Sports South Africa today announced the official launch of its Tourism Division, effective October 2026. The division extends Nielsen Sports’ established research, measurement and consumer insights capability into the broader travel and tourism sector, with a clear ambition: to give the tourism industry access to new data and insights that drive better strategy, marketing and investment decisions. Its offering spans tourism strategy and advisory, destination and traveller research, and a new Economic Impact Assessment standard that is credible, consistent and comparable across the sport, entertainment and tourism industries.
The launch is a deliberate step in diversifying Nielsen Sports SA’s client base and service portfolio. Tourism bodies, destinations, national parks and heritage sites, destination management companies, event owners and rights holders increasingly need the same thing: robust, decision-ready intelligence on who their visitors are, why they travel and the value they create. The Tourism Division serves this broader market with research products and advisory services built on proven methodology, from destination strategies for cities to international traveller research across Africa.
Bernadine Galliver appointed Head of Tourism
The launch of this division is cemented by the appointment of Bernadine Galliver as Head of the Tourism Division from October 2026. Bernadine brings two decades of experience in tourism strategy development, market research, market and financial feasibility studies, economic impact assessments and investment advisory. She joins from JLL, where she served as Head of Tourism Advisory for the Middle East and Africa. Her work spans government ministries, economic development and tourism entities, developers, lenders, trade associations, hoteliers and communities across the tourism value chain, including conducting more than 100 event impact assessments in Africa, tourism planning for various giga projects in Saudi Arabia, and tourism forecasting for Abu Dhabi.
Bernadine comments: “Tourism runs on insight, yet too many destinations still plan without the data they need. Sport is one of the most powerful and rapidly growing drivers of tourism globally, creating significant opportunities for destinations, communities and businesses. I am excited to lead a new sports tourism consultancy focused on unlocking this potential for Africa”.
Built on sector experience
Additionally, the division also draws on Managing Director, Tumelo Selikane’s direct exposure to the tourism sector, including his previous tenure on the Board of South African Tourism, panel discussions and keynote engagements across the industry’s leading platforms: the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), Africa’s Travel Indaba, Meetings Africa, the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) and a collaboration with WTM Africa hosting the 2026 Sports Events Tourism Exchange Pavilion.
Where sport and tourism meet
South African sports fans are predominantly local travellers, and therefore sport and tourism cannot be seen as separate industries. Every major fixture, marathon, tournament and festival moves people, and those people spend on travel, accommodation, food and experiences. The industry’s gap is not reach. It is recognition and planning. The value is already being created; it simply is not being measured, packaged or planned for with the rigour it deserves. Sport is one powerful lens on travel behaviour, but not the only one. The same research discipline applies equally to leisure, nature-based, cultural and business travel.
“We are excited to launch a suite of tourism products and travel-related research, but our bigger ambition is to give the tourism industry access to data and insights it has never had before,” said Tumelo Selikane, Managing Director, Nielsen Sports South Africa.
“Whether it is a destination strategy, an international traveller study or an economic impact assessment, the evidence must be consistent. That is why we are building an Economic Impact Assessment standard that holds up across sport, entertainment and tourism, so that governments, destinations, rights holders and investors can make decisions on evidence they trust. If the number cannot be compared across industry, it cannot guide investment.”
Sports Travel & Tourism Intelligence Tracker
Nielsen Sports SA is currently in the field and nearing completion of the first wave of its Sports Travel & Tourism Intelligence Tracker, measuring the travel behaviour, spend, and economic value generated by sports and lifestyle travellers. Results and the full report will be available at the end of October 2026, and the study will run annually to build a consistent, long-term view of the market.
