Visit Gauteng Strikes Gold at the 2026 International Tourism Film Festival Africa Johannesburg, The Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) is celebrating a defining moment for destination storytelling after winning Gold at the 2026 International Tourism Film Festival Africa awards (ITFFA) ceremony held in Johannesburg on Friday, 5 June 2026. It is gold for the golden province, gold for the golden team at Visit Gauteng, and gold for the golden storytellers of Gauteng — the people who move, shape and animate the spaces and places that define our destination story.
The award is a powerful endorsement of authentic storytelling and the enduring role of film in destination marketing. In an era crowded by fast-moving content and a proliferation of multimedia formats, film still offers something deeper: an immersive, emotional and memorable way to tell the Gauteng story to the world.
This recognition affirms that strong destinations are built not only through infrastructure and attractions, but through stories people can see, feel and share. Gauteng’s winning brand film captures a province of energy, ambition, creativity and possibility — a living destination powered by its people, its pulse and its promise, with the konkaring sounds of Amapiano.
The significance of this recognition is amplified as South Africa marks Youth Month and builds towards the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Uprisings — a watershed moment in our national story and in the global power of visual storytelling.
From the historic images that emerged from Soweto and Johannesburg, including the work of legendary photojournalist Sam Nzima, to today’s images of young South Africans carrying the national flag onto the world stage, storytelling remains one of our most powerful tools of memory, identity and inspiration. And as Bafana Bafana prepare in Mexico for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, South Africa is once again celebrating images of young people stepping into history — this time in pursuit of sporting glory.
“This Gold is for Gauteng — for our people, our storytellers and our shared destination story. As South Africa marks Youth Month and builds towards the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Uprisings, this moment reminds us that powerful images do more than capture history — they carry it, shape it and share it with the world. From the lens of Sam Nzima to the images of today’s young South Africans stepping onto the global stage, authentic storytelling remains one of our greatest strengths, and Gauteng will continue to tell that story with pride, purpose and impact,” said Acting GTA CEO Crezelda Venter.
The International Tourism Film Festival Africa is a prestigious annual event established in 2019 to honour and promote exceptional audio-visual content related to the global travel and tourism industry. It brings together the creative and tourism sectors to drive investment, celebrate destination storytelling, and stimulate the African audio-visual market, while contributing to the development of domestic and international tourism through film tourism mainstreaming. Destination Gauteng is proud to play host to this prestigious event right here at Africa’s home of entertainment, lifestyle and bleisure tourism experiences.
By scooping gold in the highly competitive Tourism Video – Tourism Destination Marketing category, Visit Gauteng has underscored the agile and high-impact nature of its destination marketing efforts, rooted in the realities of our golden destination and its people, concluded Venter. Ends//
Enquiries:
Barba Gaoganediwe, Spokesperson Gauteng Tourism
0834467844
@VisitGauteng
About the Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA)
GTA is the official destination marketing agency for the Gauteng City Region. Its mission is to develop, promote, coordinate and facilitate responsible and sustainable tourism, while positioning Gauteng as a world-class destination for bleisure tourism. Through strategic marketing, partnerships and destination development, Visit Gauteng works to grow tourism, support job creation and contribute to inclusive economic growth across the province. #VisitGauteng-Zwakala
