Introduction
Thank you very much for the opportunity to outline the department’s plans aimed at ensuring that we contribute to the ongoing government programme to create jobs and grow the economy. Our primary focus of many of our programmes is the people and people development. We are determined to make the commitment of “Working together in positioning tourism as a national growth driver in the economy”, a reality. Transformation of the sector is vital to ensure sustainable growth and development in the tourism industry.
National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS)
On 2 March 2011, Cabinet approved the National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS), an ambitious plan developed by the all the stakeholders in the tourism sector.The NTSS will be the driver that will enable us to reach our ambitious growth targets and truly position us amongst the top 20 tourist destinations in the world by 2020.” This strategy will serve not only as a tool of inspiration to grow our sector to greater heights than ever before, but also as a map to guide us along the way and a yardstick by which to measure our performance.
It is our sincere belief that the success of the NTSS lies in its implementation. It is for this reason that we will be establishing a delivery forum that will be convened by the Director-General twice a year. This will be comprised of all the tourism social partners such as government, industry, labour and non-governmental organisations.
One of the key focus areas of the NTSS is job creation and the department will contribute 10,270 full-time equivalent jobs in the financial year 2011/12 through its Social Responsibility Implementation programme and the Tourism Enterprise Partnership programme.
The government will work towards increasing the number of tourism programmes and projects that are led by and benefitting the communities. Some of the programmes the department will implement in our efforts to contribute to the creation of a skills base for the industry and job opportunities, especially for young people are:
- The Chefs Youth Training project with an intake of 800 unemployed young people over a three-year period, and a budget of R25 million for year one.
- The Hospitality Youth Initiative, which is a training and experiential placement project for unemployed youth. The initial target was 300 and has been increased by 500 to bring the total intake to the new total of 800. The budget was R7 million but we are glad to say we have also been given additional funding of R15 million for this initiative.
- The Tourism Buddies Youth Project, a Tourism & Hospitality training and experiential placement programme with a total intake of 975 youth to betrained nationally and a budget of R39 million. We hope to extend this annual project to 2012/13 pending its performance, availability of funding and demand.
Niche tourism and heritage tourism
Several new niche markets have been identified and have been developed further. Currently South Africa as a tourist destination is positioned largely around “safari-type” experiences and its beaches. South Africa has a strong and vibrant cultural diversity that is not well marketed to provide visitors to the country with unique, memorable and world-class experiences. The country’s cultural diversity can be packaged into quality, innovative and authentic products that meet market needs and provide value for money.
An opportunity for accelerated growth and improved competitiveness is presented through niche market and product development.
Part of the National Department of Tourism’s (NDT) strategy is to ensure that the newly developed niche tourism products are developed in order to grow the tourism industry. The NDT in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have developed a national niche tourism framework that will assist us with effective management and development of niche tourism markets.
Rural tourism
The development of rural areas is an identified priority area for government during this electoral mandate period. Therefore we will have to promote investment in the development of tourism products and attractions in rural areas. For rural tourism development to have a significant pro-poor impact on communities an effective strategy, consisting of strategic interventions by government that allow poor people better access to revenues accruing to the tourism market, is in the process of development.
We are working closely together with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform on finalising the rural tourism strategy that was developed during 2010/11. The department intends to support and train 530 rural enterprises on Tourism Awareness, Customer Service and toolkits during the current year.
Provincial and local government
Working together with Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and other partners we will develop a comprehensive framework for tourism local government support. This is in recognition of the role that provincial and local government plays in the tourism value chain, either directly or indirectly. This framework will amongst others take into account the impact of local government by-laws, rates and taxes on the tourism sector, including the cost of doing business at a locality. It will also look at tourism asset management, local safety, information, structures, infrastructure amongst others. It will further look at harmonisation of policies and or by-laws that have direct implications for tourism products across provinces.
The Department has also put together a plan to rollout a series of roadshows to provinces with the aim of engaging the Provincial government departments and stakeholders. The roadshows will afford the department to, among others things share with the provinces, projects of the department linked to the NTSS and explore further discussions on areas of cooperation. The department delegation will include officials from South African Tourism (SAT) and the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA).
One of the key discussion points will be on the development of a Common Budget Structure for tourism. The aim is to make certain that resources are channeled to priorities as agreed in the NTSS, with an emphasis on ensuring that we reach greater integration levels in all the spheres of government and that there is an adequate spread of resources to cover areas like marketing; grading etc.
Regional tourism development
It is becoming increasingly important that South Africa continue with its visible contribution to regional development and the Strategy is aimed at growing the value of regional tourism by establishing five SAT offices within the continent by 2020. Statistics indicates that within Africa there are markets that South Africa has not taken full advantage of, cognizance of the levels of outbound. For example, Angola and Nigeria recorded outbound of 264 000 and 741 000 respectively, in the year 2010.
Indaba, Tourism Month, Welcome Awards
South African Tourism (SAT) supported by the Department recently held a successful Tourism Indaba at the Albert Luthuli Convention Centre in Durban. INDABA is one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar and one of the top three ‘must visit’ events of its kind on the global calendar. It showcases the widest variety of Southern Africa's best tourism products, and attracts international visitors and media from across the world. For two years in a row, INDABA has won the award for Africa’s best travel and tourism show. This award was presented by the Association of World Travel Awards.
Another high level tourism event which will be hosted by the Department is the Tourism Month in September, culminating in celebrating the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) International World Tourism Day. One of the focus areas of the Department of Tourism is encouraging domestic tourism, and this event is aimed at stimulating South Africans to travel within their country and to appreciate and enjoy the beauty that the country has to offer.
This year will also see the announcement of the revamped Tourism Excellence Awards during the Tourism Month, to ensure that it is a premier world class tourism awards in the region and the continent. The awards are aimed at:
- Rewarding and celebrating excellence in the sector,
- Strengthening commitment by stakeholders towards building a sustainable industry, and
- Profiling the industry competitively amongst other business sectors and destinations.
Conclusion
In conclusion, let me take this opportunity to thank Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk for your leadership, Director-General Ambassador Kingsley Makhubela and his team in the Department for the good work, SAT, the tourism industry and all the people who make tourism what it is about, the people!
Our people must tell their own story about their own country, by being active participants in the above mentioned programmes and interventions. South Africa has more products to offfer.We are makıng a call to the industry, business in general, and thepeople of South Africa to partner with us as government - together we can do more.
Enkosi!!
