Honourable Minister of Tourism, Lindiwe Sisulu;

TBCSA Board Chairman and Members;

Senior Government Officials;

Our various industry players present;

Members of the media;

Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning to the tourism industry represented here today.

Let me start by rendering my sincere apology for not being able to join you physically at Sun City owing to Parliamentary duties which demanded that we be in Cape Town. We sure would have loved to physically interact with yourselves as we gather today in the name of our tourism industry.

We must salute you for surviving through one of the worst, if not the worst ever, catastrophe any modern industry has faced – which is the Covid-19 pandemic. That you are here today and are planning for, and experiencing the industry’s recovery is testimony to your resilience. However, even more so, it is testimony to the underlying strengths of, and prospects for, this incredible industry.

As government, we cannot over emphasize what an important catalyst for economic growth the tourism industry has always been and still is – especially as we move towards a post pandemic world. The industry has always demonstrated its immense multiplier effect and its total employment impact.

More than four years ago, in his first State of the Nation Address in 2018, our President, His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa said that tourism is an industry that provides our country with opportunities to truly shine.

In his 2019 SONA, the President delivered the TBCSA’s Tourism Growth Strategy targets which set 21 million international arrivals by 2030 which, and coupled with domestic tourism growth, would support 2 million more jobs in total through-out our economy.  

Over this conference we are going to revisit these targets which have been, and are, impacted by COVID and the current global economic slow-down, but nevertheless the industry’s resilience and recovery is evident and its phenomenal growth potential remains.      

As government, we know that we absolutely need to be serious about tourism and take actions to achieve these lofty goals for the benefit of the peoples of South Africa. 

The 1996 White Paper, which remains relevant even as a process to update it is happening, states in its first two guiding principles that:

Tourism will be private sector driven

Government will provide the enabling framework for the industry to flourish

We have to regrettably admit that the enabling framework has been lacking and even deteriorating in recent years.  We cannot afford to continue to derail and constrain this key economic sector of our economy due to challenges in the enabling framework.  

Tourism, multi-faceted as it is, requires of us an all-of-government approach.  More than any other sector, tourism is influenced and impacted by policy and strategy in nearly every government department.

In reality, the Ministry and Department of Tourism have no executive powers over many key national departments whose actions have a major bearing on tourism. On top of the list is Home Affairs for tourist visas, border controls, and critical skills visas. The Department of Transport controls transport licensing, bilateral air service agreements, and much essential road infrastructure.

While Environment Affairs, Forestry and Fisheries – think SANParks -; Sports Art and Culture, Public Enterprises, Water Affairs, Police, DIRCO, COGTA, Public Works, Land Affairs and Rural Development…   The list goes on. These functional departments all control areas which impact on your industry.

International best practice – as described by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), points to when recognizing the potential for tourism and its cross-functional nature; countries create special forums to drive tourism, often an inter-ministerial committee which may be chaired by a President or Prime Minister. In this regard, every department has to consider the impact of their actions on tourism and continually show what they have done to facilitate the environment for the tourism industry to unleash its full potential and flourish.     

Japan for an example, after having approved a new tourism strategy in 2009 set up a Ministerial Council for the Promotion of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country, chaired by the Prime Minister and overseeing a cross-ministerial budget. From 2009 to 2019, Japan saw average annual growth of almost 18% in foreign tourist arrivals. Their strategy included the Rugby World Cup – where of course we also shone!

We need to find the model that works for us to ensure we achieve effective inter-governmental collaboration to drive growth in the tourism industry.

The collaboration will ensure we provide an enabling visa regime including a world class eVisa, as do many countries such as Turkey, Vietnam, Australia with ease.  We need to reduce red tape and increase administrative efficiencies in order to avoid the challenge of lack of licenses (for transport, liquor, tour guides, zoning etc.) impeding economic growth.    

We need better safety and security with an emphasis on tourist safety. We have to devote more resources to tackling acts of criminality, particularly crimes against tourists and consider initiatives like the Kenya Tourism Federation Safety and Communication Centre or Tourism Police such as in Uganda and many other countries.

We need better maintained roads – and this requires municipalities, provinces and national government to deliver. Indeed, all of tourism happens at local level, on the ground in a municipality. We need our municipalities to step-up and where appropriate, prioritise tourism and allocate resources to this important industry.  

But this is still not everything - there is one other key element we will need to successfully drive growth in tourism. The nature of cross cutting policy and regulatory issues, tourism destination marketing and support of appropriate tourism development across product, skills and transformation requires an active and trusted partnership between the public and private sectors.

As also highlighted by the UNWTO and OECD, we must institutionalize and embrace a public - private governance arrangement which underpins a trusted and equal partnership between the parties, and which addresses all aspects of policy and strategy development and implementation.

With our all of government approach and our public private partnership in place, we can then drive the effective strategies to achieve growth. While we will talk to these during the conference deliberations, but let us mention a couple of key areas.

We need to up our destination marketing game with a strategic and operational partnership between the industry and SA Tourism to leverage market intelligence and maximise effective destination marketing, with joint marketing and coordination of campaigns between industry and SA Tourism.

We are acutely aware that we face competition from other tourism destinations around the globe, ever more intense in the post COVID recovery era.  We need to act with agility based on latest intelligence with tactical and cost-effective, short-term campaigns and initiatives, complementing long term strategy.

We will also need to drive air access to our destination, and we must strategically focus an investment stimulation programme to ensure we develop the best and the right product for tourists. We need to be sustainable, digitize where it is needed, and develop human resources and transform.   

When he addressed the Indaba in 2019, the President listed 10 issues that had to be addressed “to marshal all the means at our disposal to show that we have what it takes to be that destination and to offer that experience that tourists want.”

 I have covered many of the points here, again.

We now need to act.

And that is why we are here today, to engage and agree on how we deliver on these goals.  How will we fashion our all of government approach that delivers the enabling environment which will remove the barriers and constraints the industry faces.

How will we structure our public private partnership and in particular, take our destination marketing to a new level, and what are the other key strategies do we need to focus on.

Only by doing this, will we deliver the jobs and the jobs for youth that our country so sorely needs.

In South Africa we are custodians of one of the best, if not the best, tourism destination on earth. The richness and diversity of our offering for local and international tourists alike is unequalled. Deserts, mountains, bush and coastline, unmatched scenery, vibrant cities, endless adventure, an eclectic cultural melting pot, a unique, though traumatic history, amazing conference centres, casinos and entertainment venues, cruise terminals, gourmet food and restaurants, wine farms, safari experiences and more.

We are frequently lauded amongst the most beautiful countries in the world and our cities, towns and places win numerous travel awards and feature high on global destination rankings.

You the tourism industry, and us, the Government have an opportunity to leverage these advantages within an enabling policy environment, and be the key player in reversing the dire economic challenges our country faces.    

We need to see a return to strong economic growth in South Africa, and I believe tourism with its ability to deliver millions more jobs, particularly for youth, is the key industry that can enable our country’s economic re-vitalisation. 

Post todays deliberations, we would like to invite the chairman of the board, Mr Komani to urgently meet with us to present resolutions and key deliverables that need our immediate intervention from this conference.

We look forward to further engagements with yourselves.

Let us grow the South African Tourism industry, together!

I thank you.