Master of Ceremonies: Wolfgang Riebe,
The Executive Mayor of Oudtshoorn, Honourable Gordon April,
Councilors and the Municipal Manager,
Mr and Mrs. Allan Reddy,
The Manager of the Pearl of Oudtshoorn Hotel: Pieter Eck,
The Oudtshoorn Tourism Industry players,
Members of the Oudtshoorn Business Forum,
Entertainment groups,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen.
I thank you for the invitation to this beautiful place and to the prestigious event of the opening of the Pearl of Oudtshoorn.
Government, particularly the national Department of Tourism (NDT), applauds you for taking the lead and inadvertently attracting tourism potential to the Greater Oudtshoorn area. We urge you to set the bar high in terms of employing, training and nurturing our people from these areas, many of them located in poverty and underdevelopment. Thank you for choosing to invest in Oudtshoorn, which is the largest town in the Klein Karoo, offers all the amenities of a regional capital - with all the charm of a traditional "plattelandse dorp". Today, the economy of Oudtshoorn relies on agriculture and tourism - its major attractions being the natural environment including Cango, the largest show cave in Africa.
Currently the tourism sector contribute R300 million per annum to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the town. It currently provide an estimated 2 000 permanent job opportunities and the other contributors to the GDP are Community Services; Wholesale & Retail Trade; Catering & Accommodation and Finance and Business Services.
Tourism is listed as one of the priorities in the Municipalities Vision 2030 strategy and the current economic climate for Oudtshoorn is as follows:
- Oudtshoorn has the third largest economy in the district.
- Output producing Gross Regional Product (GRP) = R1, 9 bn.
- Annual real growth rate = 1, 9% pa.
- Required growth rate = 6% to reduce unemployment (challenge)
- Unemployment rate = +-40%
- Levels of absolute poverty high = 10%
- Estimate of 9 000 people live on less than US$2 a day.
We pride ourselves with Oudtshoorn, which is the ostrich capital of the world. Ostriches are found in great numbers and the region produces the best feathers, leather products and ostrich meat in the world. But the world's biggest bird is just one of the many attractions in this area of exceptional contrasts and natural beauty.
New Growth Path and the National Tourism Sector Strategy
The New Growth Path (NGP) has identified six growth areas, one of which is tourism. Key to these sectors is to grow the economy and create jobs. The NGP states “Delivering on the creation of decent work through inclusive growth will require cooperation amongst government departments, state agencies and stronger participation of social partners in the development and implementation of government policies. While the core participants will be government departments, collaboration with business and labour will be crucial. As the delivery agreement is refined and further improved, the role of social partners in the achievement of the outcome will be managed by social pacts”.
The National Department of Tourism (NDT) in consultation with tourism stakeholders developed the National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS) which was approved by cabinet in March 2011. Through the NTSS, the tourism sector is committed to creating a total of 225 000 additional jobs by the year 2020. The NTSS further seeks to increase tourism’s total direct and indirect contribution to the economy to R499 billion in 2020.
The Department in consultation with key tourism stakeholders is in the process of finalizing the NTSS Implementation plan and the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the NTSS. The Delivery Forum has been put in place to drive collective implementation of the strategy. It provides for the growth and development of the domestic and events tourism as sustainability pillars, it further provides for capacity development at local government level.
Government is committed to working towards ensuring that tourism becomes rooted at local government levels to promote ownership by local communities, with a particular emphasis on community development and job creation. Mzansi is a rich, textured and varied destination. It is rewarding to explore the entire country, especially discovering the delight and surprise of hidden destination gems like Oudtshoorn and many other corners of our country.
Our country’s global visibility reached unprecedented levels and as a result we have already secured more than 200 events for the next five years. These events will attract some 300 000 delegates to our major business tourism cities and will contribute significantly to foreign direct spend into our economy.
It is an active citizen campaign which emphasizes patriotism and the role that each and every South African can play to build Brand South Africa. As a cluster and as South Africans we want to emphasize that we are indeed playing our patriotic part in building Brand South Africa domestically and internationally and call on every South African to do the same.
Statistics are showing that January to September 2011 shows that the Tourist arrivals to South Africa went up from about 5,9 million from January to September 2010 to about 6,1 million during the same period in 2011, recording a growth of 2,6%. The arrivals from Africa continue to be the main source market for South Africa accounting for about 74% of total arrivals.
Key to our programme is how we sustain traditional markets in the light of the current global economic crisis. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) October 2011 report, international tourist arrivals grew by 4, 5% between January and August 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. International arrivals went up from 642 million in 2010 to 671 million in 2011 for January to August period. An international tourist arrival is estimated to grow between the range of 4% to 4,5% for the whole of 2011 compared to 2010 while the 2012 growth is forecast to be in the range of 3% to 4%.
The South African Tourism 2010 Annual Tourism Report shows that the tourist arrivals to South Africa went up by 15,1% in 2010 compared to 2009, reaching a total of about 8,1 million. Arrivals from Africa and overseas to South Africa went up by 12,8% and 17,6% respectively during the same period under review. Total average spent per tourist went up from R8 900 in 2009 to R9 300 in 2010 with an average length being 8,5 nights.
New emerging markets like the BRIC (Brazil, Russian, India and China) countries present opportunities for further growth. The African market is one of the key markets to sustain regional tourism development, therefore, to increase regional awareness of South African tourism, the Department and its partners is working towards setting up five marketing offices in key African markets by 2020, and will push for the implementation of more regional tourism programmes, such as Transfrontier conservation areas (TCAs).
The above figures provide a solid base on which we can build in terms of our growth targets for emerging markets. In the domestic market, the challenge of growing tourism in emerging local tourism segments relates in many respects to the availability of new and innovative offerings.
As the National Department of Tourism, we enter this era of action with a firm belief that the opening of this establishment is but one of the signs that when we are all committed to forge ahead. This is another feather in the cap of the tourism sector which prides itself in service excellence and recognise shining examples of tourism businesses in South Africa that are raising the bar in terms of enhancing visitor experiences. Partnerships between government and the private sector are essential in growing tourism sector.
We need to constantly remind South Africans what a fantastic destination our country is to explore. We want to encourage people to explore for themselves the new and upgraded attractions and facilities in cities across our country and experience the investments in the industry. The more we travel, the better ambassadors we become for our country and the better hosts we are to foreign visitors.
We have a long-term goal is to establish South Africa as a globally competitive service economy and the world’s destination of choice in terms of excellent customer service. In the short term, we encourage the tourism industry to deliver positive and unforgettable service experience to all visitors by embracing the highest standards of service excellence. I welcome the new baby; enjoy the ride tourism industry need the Pearl of Oudtshoorn Hotel.
Enkosi!
