Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the Minister of Tourism, will accompany President Jacob Zuma on his official visit to the Russian Federation this week.
The National Department of Tourism's participation takes place in the context of the very successful 2010 FIFA World Cup just hosted by South Africa and our drive to capitalise on the positive exposure the country has enjoyed as a tourism destination.
"The Russian Federation is one of the fastest growing outbound tourist markets in the world. Our two countries already enjoy strong political and business ties and we would like to make sure that we extend our cooperation in the field of tourism.
"I look forward to engaging with our Russian counterparts on issues which specifically affect tourism, including direct air links, visa processes and the marketing of South Africa as a destination.
"In addition, it will be very important to share our experience and the lessons we learnt from hosting the world cup with our Russian counterparts, as they are bidding to host the world cup in 2018.
"As a country, we have experienced the significant benefits of the hosting of such a mega event, including major investment in infrastructure development and a boost to our tourism industry through amongst others new projects, skills development and invaluable marketing exposure," Minister van Schalkwyk said.
The minister said that the state visit would also focus on revisiting the agreement on cooperation in the field of tourism which was signed between the two countries in 1998.
The agreement was never implemented and as such, discussions will be held between the two countries on how to revive the signed agreement. Areas of immediate action will also be identified, such as partnerships on skills development and investment in tourism infrastructure.
South Africa saw just more than 10 000 (10 214) foreign arrivals from the Russian Federation in 2009. This is not a very significant number, taken into consideration that the total arrivals from Europe (including those from the Russian Federation) to South Africa were more than 1.3 million (1 348 502) in 2009.
Given the growth potential of the Russian market, however, it is definitely an area South Africa is interested in exploring. Figures show that only about 15 percent of the Russian population of more than 140 million have ever travelled abroad, but this figure is increasing exponentially as income levels rise.
According to the Russian Tourism Industry Association, more than 9.3 million Russians went on holiday abroad in 2007, an increase of 29 percent compared to the previous year.
The visit will therefore also focus on establishing networks with the right stakeholders in order to strategically promote South Africa as a tourism destination to Russian visitors.
For media enquiries, contact:
Trevor Bloem
Tel: 012 310 3631
Cell: 082 771 6729
E-mail: tbloem@tourism.gov.za
Ronel Bester
Tel: 021 465 7240
Cell: 083 242 7763
E-mail: rbester@tourism.gov.za
Media statement by the office of the Minister of Tourism, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk
