As the spring blossoms appear and the temperatures start to rise our minds begin to drift to our year-end holiday plans. We daydream about pristine beaches; views of picturesque mountains; or maybe a lion stalking a buck next to a waterhole. Fortunately for South Africans, this is right here on our doorstep.
September is Tourism Month and this year we would like to encourage all South Africans who would like experience a world-class destination to discover their own country.
We have the iconic Table Mountain, the rugged unspoilt coastlines of the Eastern Cape, the dramatic uKhahlamba-Drakensberg mountains, the glitzy Gauteng malls and a wealth of wildlife. South Africa is blessed with a smorgasbord of places and activities to meet everyone’s dream holiday expectations.
However, with so much on offer it is surprising that only 44 per cent of the South African adult population travelled domestically last year. According to South African Tourism (SAT), this translates into approximately 13.9 million South African adults with an average of 1.9 domestic trips per person.
It may surprise many, but domestic tourism is the lifeline of our industry. In 2011 this sector contributed 76 per cent of the country’s total tourism volume and R20 billion to the economy. Moreover, domestic tourism is critical to create jobs and also to develop a sustainable basis on which future tourism growth can flourish.
To fully develop our tourism potential, the Department of Tourism launched the National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS) last year which sets clear targets for the domestic and international tourism to be reached by 2020. This strategy has set a target of 18 million domestic tourists undertaking 54 million domestic trips by 2020.
The Domestic Tourism Growth Strategy (DTGS) was launched in May this year to guide Government and the tourism industry on how to reach NTSS targets. It not only aims to encourage South Africans to travel within the country, but aspires to nurse a travelling culture among citizens.
With the DTGS, a new domestic tourism campaign was also launched called Vaya Mzansi with the tagline: “Whatever you are looking for, it’s here”. The Vaya Mzansi campaign will be broader in its appeal than its predecessor Sho't Left. It focuses on a larger cross-section of the population, while its predecessor's main focus was the young and upcoming segment of the population. The new campaign will seek to stimulate a desire for travel among groups who do not have a holidaying culture and to encourage those who travel abroad to take leisure trips in the country.
However, we are well aware that household budgets are tight. SAT research shows that economic constraints remain the biggest barrier to domestic travel with 32 per cent mentioning that they cannot afford to travel. The Vaya Mzansi campaign has kept this in mind including that consumers are increasingly cautious about how they spend their money. Therefore, the basis of Vaya Mzansi is about affordable, accessible packages geared to specific domestic tourism segments to give more South Africans the opportunity to experience the best the country has to offer.
According to Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, creating a healthy domestic tourism market will assist with increasing foreign visitors to our country. He stated: “Domestic tourism is important not only to stimulate leisure travel at home, but also to attract more foreign tourist arrivals to our country. When we have a nation of enthusiastic and passionate domestic leisure tourists, we gain a priceless bank of recommendations and ambassadors with which to attract more foreign tourists to South Africa.”
During the last five years, South Africa has done extremely well in the international leisure category and outpaced the growth of all competitor locations in the international leisure arrivals category. Our tourism industry has also managed to build on the momentum achieved during the record-breaking 2010 FIFA World Cup period by growing a further 3,3 per cent and attracting over 8,3 million international tourists in 2011.
Although Government is satisfied with these figures, we have bigger dreams for the country as a travel destination of choice. Through the NTSS, we aim for 15 million international arrivals by 2020. Over the next few years, we will target to attract more visitors from our continent and will spend R218 million on promoting our destination in African countries.
To reach our NTSS targets will be hard work and we will need to be flexible and innovative. President Jacob Zuma stated: “To further boost our tourism potential, we will amongst other measures, look into flexible visa requirements, and improved landing slots at foreign airports as well as improved tourism infrastructure.”
Another exciting market for South Africa is business tourism. In 2011 South Africa had 392 000 business travellers, of which 140 000 were meetings, incentive, conference and events delegates. Over the next five years over 200 conferences will be hosted here which translates in attendance by 300 000 delegates. This will in turn boost the economy by more than R1.6 billion. But we can do even better in this market and are targeting 81 500 convention delegates and 130 association meetings by 2020.
For the next few years, the Department of Tourism and SAT, in partnership with the tourism industry will pull out all the stops to position the country as one of the top 20 tourism destinations globally by 2020. More importantly, if we reach our NTSS targets, the tourism industry will create up to 225 000 new and 400 000 indirect jobs by 2020.
During Tourism Month we want to encourage all South Africans to join the Vaya Mzansi campaign and become ‘tourists’ in our own country. On your next trip, consider diverting off the national roads to experience the sheer beauty of our land, its rich culture and heritage, and the warmth and hospitality of our fellow citizens. “Whatever you are looking for, it’s here!”
Phumla Williams is Acting CEO of the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS)
