2006/2007 South Africa Yearbook: 21

21 Tourism South Africa is a tourist paradise, offering scenic transport, safety and security, product and business beauty, diverse wildlife, a kaleidoscope of cultures development, market growth, information, Black and traditions, and endless opportunities to explore Economic Empowerment (BEE) and skills the outdoors through sport and adventure activities. development. To address the skills gap, Tourism has the potential to contribute to achieving government has allocated R7,5 million to a the goals of the Accelerated and Shared Growth partnership between the Department of Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), which are to Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the Tourism increase economic growth to 6% by 2010, and to Hospitality and Education Training Authority (Theta), assist in halving poverty and unemployment by 2014. the National Business Initiative and the Tourism The strategy has identified tourism as one of the key Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) to build a consensus skills plan to revise existing curricula economic sectors with excellent potential for growth. and to streamline accreditation and certification. As part of the growth platform targeted by AsgiSA, Tourism is South Africa’s fastest-growing tourism has been set steep goals for the next five industry and contributes about 7,1% of GDP. In years: 500 000 new jobs, 8,5 million international 2005, international tourism to South Africa surged arrivals annually and a contribution to gross domestic to new record levels, with 10,3% more foreigners product (GDP) of at least R100 billion a year. visiting the country in 2005 than in 2004, according In June 2006, the Minister of Environmental to Statistics South Africa. Some 7,4 million people Affairs and Tourism, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk, from other countries visited South Africa in 2005, announced the creation of the R20-million Tourism compared with 6,7 million in 2004, which was a Equity Fund. This will provide access to new record at the time. much-needed support for small and medium-sized In 1994, the year of South Africa's first tour operators and small, medium and micro democratic elections, only three million foreign tourism enterprises (SMMEs). visitors arrived in the country. To further strengthen growth in tourism, With just over 2,7 million arrivals from January to government is focusing on seven key priorities: April 2006, the 2,5-million target was broken for 535 the first time. This represented a 16% increase in Tourism policy and initiatives arrivals across all territories compared with the The Tourism Branch of the Department of same period in 2005, translating into almost Environmental Affairs and Tourism aims to create 377 000 more visitors. the right conditions for responsible tourism growth The largest component of this growth came from and development by promoting and developing Africa and the Middle East, whose visitors to South tourism, thus increasing job and entrepreneurial Africa rose by 21,9%. The Asia and Australasia opportunities and encouraging the participation of region showed the second-largest growth at 7,1%, previously disadvantaged individuals. Its focus is on while the United Kingdom (UK), Germany and the facilitating the growth of the tourism industry by United States of America (USA) remained South providing support to the public and private sectors Africa’s most important long-haul markets. and the broader community. In 2006, there was continued growth in visitors The White Paper on Tourism provides a policy from the USA, and a 3,6% increase in visitors from framework for tourism development, and entails, Europe as a whole. There was a dramatic increase among other things: • empowerment and capacity-building of 32% in the number of tourists from Brazil in the • a focus on tourism-infrastructure investment first quarter of 2006. • aggressively marketing South Africa as a tourism Tourism continues to make a significant destination to international markets contribution to job creation, with employment in the • a domestic tourism and travel campaign. tourism sector increasing to 539 017 in 2005. Raising general awareness about the opportunities for The fastest-growing segment of tourism in South domestic travel remains a priority. The aim is to Africa is ecological tourism (ecotourism), which encourage South Africans to travel within their country, includes nature photography, birdwatching, to make tourism products accessible to all, to facilitate botanical studies, snorkelling, hiking and the development of a culture of tourism, and to create mountaineering. a safe and welcoming environment for visitors. Community tourism is becoming increasingly popular, with tourists wanting to experience South Poverty-relief funding Africa’s rural villages and townships. (See The Department of Environmental Affairs and Chapter 5: Arts and culture.) Tourism’s poverty-relief projects promote the 536 development of community-owned tourism affordable Sho’t Left holidays through the retail products and the establishment of tourism network of more than 5 000 agents, all of whom infrastructure, including roads, information centres are equipped with brochures and educational and tourism signage. leaflets. Asata was also working with South These poverty-relief projects are categorised African Tourism to develop the Sho’t Left into product and infrastructure development, Enterprise Programme, through which travel capacity-building and training, the establishment agencies employ domestic agents to stimulate the of SMMEs, and business-development projects. domestic travel market. In alignment with the Tourism BEE Charter, this Welcome Campaign project also addresses unemployment and skills The South African Welcome Campaign was transfer. launched in December 1999 to spearhead the building of a tourism nation and to increase International tourism awareness among South Africans of the Cabinet approved the International Tourism Growth importance to the economy of growing tourism. Strategy in June 2003. The strategy includes an The campaign encourages South Africans to make analysis of core markets and their segments. visitors feel safe and welcome. The campaign has Priority markets have been identified in Europe, been launched in at least 30 towns and seven Asia and Africa. border posts. In support of the campaign, the The strategy not only aims to increase arrivals, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism but also to: has commissioned Theta to re-engineer the • increase the duration of tourists’ visits to South Ubuntu We Care Programme. Africa A revived programme will target substantial • increase spending by tourists numbers of people who interact with tourists from • ensure that tourists travel throughout the the moment they arrive in South Africa until they country, and not just in a few provinces leave. This customer-training programme is known • facilitate transformation and BEE in the local as Welcome Host and is based on a similar tourism industry. programme started in Canada and employed South Africa has made its mark as a global successfully in Australia and the UK. It comprises a destination for meetings, incentives, conferences two-day in-house workshop and teaches people and exhibitions. how to meet and exceed tourists’ expectations. By August 2006, South Africa was listed 32nd among the International Congress and Convention Sho’t Left Campaign Association’s top 40 leading conference To promote a culture of domestic tourism among destinations in the world. The country attracted South Africans, the Department of Environmental 63% of all conferences in Africa, supported 12 000 Affairs and Tourism successfully implemented the jobs and contributed R2,6 billion a year to GDP. Sho’t Left domestic marketing campaign, The New Partnership for Africa’s Development generating more than R40 million in the economy (Nepad) identified tourism as an important sector from a R20-million investment. The success of the for addressing the development challenges facing campaign is largely due to a partnership between Africa. The Nepad Tourism Action Plan has been the department and the tourism industry. The developed, providing a more detailed framework campaign promotes affordability, increasing the for action at national and subregional levels. The number of South Africans accessing tourism action plan proposes concrete interventions in the products and services. following focus areas: Sho’t Left focuses on converting interest into the • creating an enabling policy and regulatory actual booking of accommodation and inspiring environment people to discover the country. The campaign • institution-building aimed at promoting tourism facilitates closer co-operation with the private • tourism marketing sector, and particularly the Association of Southern • research and development African Travel Agents (Asata). The public can book • investment in tourism infrastructure and products 537 • human resource development (HRD) and quality Over the next three years, it will be investing Tourism assurance another R185 million in the TEP. This will be Some of the tourism initiatives South Africa is boosted by more than R41 million from the actively participating in, include: Business Trust. This funding will be used to greatly • various tourism spatial development initiatives in expand TEP services to small businesses, which the Southern African Development Community will now also include training and mentorship, (SADC) strategic advice and support to realise the Tourism • developing the SADC Univisa. BEE

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