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Date: 25/02/2004
Source: Department of Environmental and Tourism
Title: V Moosa: International Tourist Guides Day


ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND TOURISM, VALLI MOOSA, AT THE COMMEMORATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL TOURIST GUIDES DAY

Programme Director
Honourable MECs
Director-General
His Worship the Mayor of Ilembe Region
Chief Executive Officers of various stakeholders in the Tourism Industry
Members of the media
Provincial Tourist Guide Winners
Ladies and Gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the first commemoration of our International Tourist Guide Day. I am honoured to spend this time with men and women who lead and participate in this important sector of human activity- tourism. Other than tour operators and the Internet, the most important contact that the tourist has with South Africa is through a tourist guide. In fact most letters that my department receives from tourists who share their experiences in the country, sing praises about the knowledge and professionalism of tourist guides more than the operators who packaged their tours! Tourist guides are indeed our ambassadors, as we all know that tourism thrives on person-to-person encounters that make a tourist's journey of discovery more meaningful! It is through the enforce with tourist guides that South Africa receives more visitors every year. Thank you again for the role that you are playing in promoting our country as a preferred tourist destination.

Programme Director, I am informed that in 1989, during the Third International Convention of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Association, members of the association pondered on ideas to promote the awareness of professional tourist guides amongst the public. A number of ideas were put forward and these eventually laid the basis for the formation of the International Tourist Guide Day.

The first International Tourist Guide Day was held in 1990 with 15 countries participating.

At Indaba 2003, the national registrar, together with provincial registrars, launched the Tourist Guide of the Year and the Emerging Tourist Guide of the Year Awards in order to motivate guides to offer good services. Provincial registrars have held competitions in their respective provinces, where they short-listed and interviewed candidates in order to choose provincial winners.

Today the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and its partners are recognising the role and sterling contribution of the tourist guides to tourism growth in the country and that we indeed give a world-class service to our tourists. Tonight we will be announcing the provincial winners - men and women who excel in showcasing the beauty and diversity of our beautiful country and who do so with a great sense of pride.

It is also significant that we celebrate this special day at the same time that South Africa is celebrating its ten years of democracy. It was the ushering into our democracy in April 2004 that made it possible that we are able to witness a growing representative tourist guiding sector tonight. However, this sector still faces a serious challenge of transformation and I am hopeful that when you gather in a year's time for a similar event there will be even more positive news to report on the inclusion of historically disadvantage individuals within the sector.

Ladies and Gentlemen, much has been achieved in the tourism industry over the past decade of our democracy. The Second Tourism Amendment Act, which is a new system of dealing with tourist guide issues, was introduced in 2000. Since the implementation of the Act on 1 October 2001, we have appointed the National Registrar and the 9 provincial registrars. One of the major roles of the national registrar is to disseminate information about tourist guides, associations of tourist guides and any other information to promote and develop the tourist guiding sector nationally. The provincial registrars, register and keep records of tourist guides in their respective, they are in charge of promoting and developing the tourist guiding sector in their provinces, as well as enforcing appropriate disciplinary measures where there is non-compliance to the act.

Particular attention in the Act was given to the developmental approach rather than a prescriptive approach. Attention was placed on transforming the sector to ensure participation of the historically marginalized persons. This has resulted in 6472 registered tourist guides of whom 1251 are from the historically marginalized groups.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the White Paper on Tourism states that tourism is government led and private sector driven. The transformation of the tourist guide sector has been, and remains a priority of my department. My department together with tourism industry stakeholders has identified challenges facing us in transforming the tourist guide sector especially in human resource development and share of economic benefit.

To this effect the Solution Based Committee (SBC) was formed in September 2004. The SBC is comprised of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA), South African Tourism (SAT), the South African Tourism Institute (SATI), the tourist guide representatives and training providers. It is envisaged that the SBC will continue to operate indefinitely.

Among other challenges that have been identified by the SBC are, lack of in foreign language; poor quality of training rendered by the service providers in the tourist guide sector; qualified tourist guides are not being employed; and lack of tourist guides associations to assist guides.

To address these imbalances, DEAT had bilateral meetings with other countries such as Germany, Spain, France and China to mention a few. We have signed off letters to the following missions requesting each to assist with language and tour guide training for twenty (20) South Africans - Belgium, China, Egypt, Holland, United Arab Emirates, France, Portugal, Italy, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Sweden and Spain. The governments of China, Spain, Germany and France have offered to assist in language training for South African tourist guides especially those coming from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. Already, the Chinese government has pledged to send a Chinese teacher to train interested guides in Chinese. The French have also indicated their commitment in training guides in this regard in through their 19 language training centres established in South Africa.

The Spanish government has also indicated its commitment in assisting in language training through electronic conferencing with centres of instruction nationwide. These are just a few examples of initiatives undertaken to improve and ensure the quality of service delivery and professionalism in this sector. Consultations with SATI have taken place to assist in the implementation of these initiatives.

I am happy to announce that 40 students have so far received training under the Amathuba Project, a joint initiative between South Africa and Germany. The training provides historically disadvantaged students with cultural exposure and tourist guide training in Germany.

400 students are currently being trained as tourist guides through the learnership programme.

To address the employment gap in tourist guiding sector, my department has established a national database of black tourist guides. The database is submitted to South African Tourism Services Association (SATSA) on a monthly basis and they in turn submit the list to its members to assist in marketing and employment of historically disadvantage tourist guides. SATSA has since distributed the database to its operators.

My department together with SA Tourism is developing a domestic growth strategy which aims at growing the number of domestic tourists, their spend, length of stay and distribution throughout the country and throughout the year, as well as to identify the key tourism products for the domestic tourism market.

The latest figure of 3,5million on domestic tourism trips is an indicator that there is a need to promote nation building through tourism by growing domestic tourism in townships, rural areas, heritage sites, national parks and tourism icons. Tourist guides need to play a vital role in seeing the success of this strategy.

In his opening speech during the Indaba 2003 the President of South Africa said I quote "I would like to have time to break loose from my work environment, to rediscover myself as a person by being with people and things about whom and which I do not have to take decisions. I would go to the Eastern Cape of our country to visit the grave of a Khoi woman, Sarah Baartman, whose remains were returned to the country of her birth. I would visit the museums of Eastern Cape and I am certain that as I walk around these places with strange names I will learn much about the past."

The President's speech clearly shows the value of tourist guide sector in the tourism industry. A good tourist guide would be in attendance to give in depth the account of the History of Sarah Baartman from beginning to end, take the President to the museum and curate the history and origins of its contents. This interpretation would identify with the heritage of this country, some of it very harrowing and painful indeed. I am attempting to depict the calibre of a true tourist guide being that of human relations, knowledge about the history, places, fauna and flora, game and most importantly, the people of South Africa and their different cultures, religion etc. Tourist guides are part of the equation in telling the myriad of stories about this wonderful and diverse land of ours.

The next 10 years of freedom will see a greater contribution made by tourism to the development of our country. Transformation of the tourist guide sector will remain a key challenge. At the 2nd National Tourism Conference held in Free State under the theme "one destination, gearing up to be globally competitiveness" we, the tourism stakeholders in South Africa committed ourselves to make the tourist guiding sector representative of our people.

We are a nation that has been endowed with many gifts, including scenic beauty, diverse cultures and hospitality. How we market South Africa, as a value for money destination, remains the challenge to all of us in the tourism industry, the quality of tourist guide sector will undoubtedly add value to our efforts.

Ladies and gentlemen, before I announce the provincial tourist guides winners it is important to note that a panel comprising of DEAT, SA Tourism, THETA, TBCSA and SATSA will be nominated to monitor your performance between March and September 2004. The two national winners will be announced at the World Tourism Day celebrations during September 2004 in Limpopo. They will win a trip to Australia to attend the International Convention of the World Federation of Tourist Guides Associations in 2005.

In congratulating the provincial winners, I would like to say that you have shown the dedication and surpassed all the expectations required of tourist guides and therefore fully deserve to be here. Furthermore you should remember that by setting the trend, you will inspire other tourist guides to aspire to reach your level and this will ultimately raise the standard of tourist guiding throughout the country.

Not only are you true ambassadors for this country but also you are instrumental and to the economy of this country through tourism. If you can continue in this fashion tourism will no doubt take its rightful position in this economy.

I am honoured to be in your presence today, and whilst I will be retiring as a politician I will remain a tourists. Hopefully now that I will not be Minister a anymore, I will have more time for leisure travel and would enjoy experiencing your expertise again in the field.

Good luck and all the best. You make me a proudly South African

PROVINCIAL TOURIST GUIDE WINNERS

KWAZULU-NATAL
Emerging Tourist Guide -
Tourist Guide of the Year - Glenn Flanagan

MPUMALANGA
Emerging Tourist Guide - Nelson Moloto
Tourist Guide of the Year - Ettienne Roux

GAUTENG
Emerging Tourist Guide - Alfred Segowe
Tourist Guide of the Year - Robin Binckes

WESTERN CAPE
Emerging Tourist Guide -
Tourist Guide of the Year - Faizal Gangat

EASTERN CAPE
Emerging Tourist Guide - Jimmy Selane
Tourist Guide of the Year - Nadia Bradshaw

NORTHERN CAPE
Emerging Tourist Guide - Andries Mokhele
Tourist Guide of the Year - Jo-Anne Toua

NORTH WEST
Emerging Tourist Guide - Lethabo Clifford Letlonkane
Tourist Guide of the Year - Richard Teko Mangole

FREE STATE
Emerging Tourist Guide - Peter Gavhi
Tourist Guide of the Year - Stemmer Ngalo

Issued by: Department of Environmental and Tourism
25 February 2004

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